Chinese kindergarteners: there’s a lot more to come over the next decade
If you’ve been in Beijing for more than a few years with school-aged children, you’re probably familiar with your kids often outlasting their teachers.The dual forces of a baby boom around the time of the Beijing Olympics and an increased number of private schooling options means that kindergartens are often scrambling for qualified help, and teachers are in such high demand that there’s always another teaching job around the corner.
Expect this to get a lot worse. Beijing is going to be facing a shortage of about 15,000 qualified kindergarten teachers over the next 3 years, according a report translated from the China Youth Daily by CRI English.
Ge Wenwei, president of Lafafa Education International, was quoted as saying that Beijing will need 36,000 kindergarten teachers over the next 3 years, but currently has only 21,400 qualified teachers with preschool education backgrounds
And the problem is by no means restricted to Beijing — the report goes on to estimate that by 2020, 40 million children across china will be entering kindergarten, an increase of more than 50% over 2009, fueling demand for teachers across the country.
Not that the salary is attracting many to pursue a career in early childhood education — a member of the China National Society of Early Childhood Education said a common kindergarten teacher in Beijing earns a paltry RMB 2,000 a month.
