Five Chinese teachers will leave for Mauritius this month as the
first group of volunteers sent there to teach Chinese.
The five were recruited through the website of the National
Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. These teachers,
aged 24 to 30, all have bachelors or masters degrees and underwent
two weeks of training before leaving.
The volunteers headed to Mauritius are only a part of the
office's plans for this year.
The number of Chinese teachers abroad cannot meet global demand
as a rising number of foreigners show a desire to study Chinese,
said Vice Minister of Education Zhang Xinsheng.
More than 25 million people around the world are studying
Chinese, and educational institutions in 100 countries are offering
courses in the language.
Everywhere, there are shortages of qualified Chinese teachers.
Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Egypt, South Africa, and countries in Europe and North and South
America have asked China to send more teachers.
To meet the demand, the national office has implemented the
Volunteer Program for International Chinese Teachers, to recruit,
train and place qualified teachers in positions abroad
A regulation that is applicable to Chinese natives, overseas
Chinese and foreigners has been issued to ensure volunteers are
qualified to teach Chinese.
"It is hard to say how many volunteers will be sent each year,
because the number of teachers needed in foreign countries changes
quickly even within a year," said Yan Meihua, an official of the
National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. "For
example, we sent 19 Chinese teachers to the Philippines last year.
Now we have received a request from the Philippines saying that it
needs 300 more."
The global fever to learn Chinese may be attributed to the
country's rapid economic growth, and especially its accession to
the World Trade Organization in
2001, said Zhang.
(China Daily October 8, 2004)