From the Chinese press

English cannot be ignored

The suggestions of Zhang Shuhua and Huang Dekuan, both members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, coincided at a panel discussion of the First Session of the 12th CPPCC. They said excessive stress on English courses would have serious consequences on the quality of education in the country. But we should not make the teaching of English a nationalistic issue, says an article in Nanfang Daily. Excerpts:

The reason why people want to curb the stress on English is because most of the students, who spend years studying it, may not use it for the rest of their life.