Singapore, Jul 27 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday called for Telugu to be taught as second language in Singapore schools and inaugurated a CXO Club, to leverage the expertise of Telugu-origin chief executives of multinational corporations across the world.
Naidu, who reached here earlier in the day, is on a five-day official visit to attract investments and strengthen diaspora ties in this prosperous city-state.
Singapore has some 40,000 people of Telugu-origin, according to a community leader.
Naidu was addressing some 2,000 diaspora members at the One World International School Digital Campus here, when he called for Telugu to be taught in Singapore schools.
In addition to Tamil being one of the four official languages in Singapore (the three being Malay, English, and Mandarin), Hindi and Punjabi are among the languages taught in Singapore schools as mother tongue-languages.
“In his speech, Chief Minister Naidu called for Telugu to be taught in Singapore schools. He told me to take up with the Singapore government the issue of Telugu as a second language,” Indian High Commissioner Dr Shilpak Ambule told PTI.
During Naidu’s interaction with people of Telugu-origin and other Indian communities, was also announced a plan to launch of Global Export-Import cell on his return to Andhra Pradesh in all-out efforts to promote entrepreneurship among some 30 lakhs Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugus living across 128 countries, a handout said here.
Telugu NRIs remit some Rs 30,000 crore annually to the state, which he said he hopes to see increasing in the coming years.
Naidu also shared about his P4 programme which is a ‘public private people partnerships’ which will have affluent individuals mentoring underprivileged members of the society to improve everybody’s living standard, it said.
Those who attended the event included Telugu entrepreneurs, company representatives, investors, and professionals from different countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
The event was organised by the Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugu Society (APNRT). PTI GS NPK NPK
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