Chinese to be taught in Sao Joao da Madeira primary schools in 2013

Buried near the end of this article in Portuguese about how the Chinese city of Anshun (安顺) wants to have a more European-like architecture with Porto as a model, we find the following:

Starting in January next year, students in the third grade in primary schools in São João da Madeira will begin to learn Mandarin. At the beginning of the 2013 / 2014 school year, children in the 3rd and 4th grade in nine primary schools will begin to learn the language.

The legislature in São João de Madeira hopes to be given authorization by the Ministry of Education to create bilingual Portuguese-Mandarin classes from the 1st to 12th grade in public schools in the city. The number of classes will depend on the demand, and the pedagogical model will follow the steps of the best bilingual private colleges in the country such as Colégio Alemão, the Lycée Français, or St. Julian's School.

That's not all - the legislature is willing to support 50% of the costs of Mandarin in the Instituto de Línguas for children and adults living in the city. "It will be a huge asset for São João da Mareira and for this region if, in 10 to 12 years, there are 200 to 300 people that can speak and express themselves correctly in Chinese", said Castro Almeida when announcing the initiative.

200 to 300 = one person in a hundred in this city of 21,000.