With this aim, around 25 jawans and officials of the ITBP will take up a one-year certificate course in the Chinese language at the Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district.
The university's registrar, Rajesh Gupta, feels the step would be helpful for the ITBP, which has to deal with the Chinese-speaking people along the Sino-India border.
Two ITBP inspectors and as many jawans have already completed the course and are currently posted at the borders.
"In the academic session 2016-17, four ITBP personnel had completed the one-year certificate course in the Chinese language. Subsequently, they have been performing their duties at the borders," Gupta told PTI.
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Inspired by the skills developed in the foreign language by the first batch, now 25 more ITBP jawans and officials have enrolled for the certificate course, he said.
"Our course is designed as per the needs of the ITBP. Besides learning the Chinese language, the course also provides them an insight into the Buddhism religion," he said.
He said this will help the ITBP personnel in communicating with the followers of Buddhism residing in the Sino-India border region.
The course books are in three languages - Hindi, English and Chinese - so that students can understand and grasp the text easily.
"We have used pictures and same sentences in three languages to make them understand the Chinese language easily. There are several villages along the border in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir where the Chinese- speaking followers of Buddhism live," he said.
In the 2017-18 academic session, the institution has also started a diploma course for those who have already completed the certificate course.
"We will soon start an advance course in the Chinese language," Gupta said, claiming that the university is the only institution in Central India where the Chinese language is being taught to the ITBP personnel.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi and the Tezpur University in Assam also have courses in the Chinese language for the ITBP jawans and officials, he added.
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