Teacher shortage in Shanghai's kindergartens remains acute

Shanghai continues to report a severe shortage of preschool teachers despite ongoing efforts to increase education and training in recent years.

About 200 graduates majoring in preschool education from East China Normal University and Shanghai Normal University, the two main universities in the city that offer a preschool education major, have all been hired. Hundreds of vacancies remain to be filled.

According to the Shanghai Education Commission, about 33 kindergartens were newly established in the fall 2017 alone, and those are expected to enroll up to 14,580 preschool children. Based on a benchmark ratio of one teacher for every 15 students, the city needs nearly 1,000 more preschool teachers, it said.