Children need a class act from male teachers

Low salary and lack of social status are obstacles in getting more men to work in kindergartens

Despite heightened efforts by Chinese schools to recruit more male teachers in an attempt to counter what education officials worry is a trend of increasing numbers of effeminate boys, male educators are still in short supply across pre-schools in Shanghai.

According to statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, there were a total of 53,352 employees in more than 2,000 Shanghai kindergartens as of 2014. However, this group comprised just 200 male teachers.