Hundreds of Chinese instructors, teaching the Chinese language at Confucius Institutes across Pakistan, have returned to China after the Chinese government ordered them to return immediately.
The development comes a couple of weeks after a female suicide bomber blew herself up near a van of Confucius Institute at Karachi University, resulting in the death of four people, including three Chinese language instructors.
Thousands of Pakistani students are currently enrolled at Confucius Institutes all over the country. The shortage of native Chinese language instructors will negatively affect their ability to learn the Chinese language.
According to reports, Confucius Institutes will not be shut down with the departure of Chinese language instructors. Chinese instructors of Pakistani origin have been asked to teach the Chinese language to students till the return of native Chinese instructors.
Confucius Institutes are operated by the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF) all over the world in collaboration with the Chinese government.
The primary aim of Confucius Institutes is to promote the Chinese language and culture internationally along with enhancing people-to-people collaboration between Chinese people and citizens of different countries.
