Nearly 500 people signed up for the city's annual kindergarten teacher training course, Shanghai Kindergarten and Nursery Association said yesterday.

About 60 percent of applicants were either fresh university graduates or unemployed. University graduates from other provinces also applied, officials said.

"People are really very enthusiastic about being a kindergarten teacher," said Tan Xing, executive director with the association.

Association officials received hundreds of inquiry calls every day since a recruitment notice was released in the city last week, she added.

"I was born loving kids," said Yang Jianying, a 25-year-old unemployed woman. "It's always been my dream to become a kindergarten teacher."

According to the notice, people under 35, with a college degree could apply for the training course and possibly be placed in a local kindergarten.

Many of the applicants have stable or good incomes, but were prepared to change careers, officials said.

A 28-year-old applicant from Baosteel, one of the city's most profitable enterprises, gave up a 280,000-yuan (US$33,735) housing allowance - many employers offer subsidies for employees to purchase a home - to be a kindergarten teacher, the association said.

Compared with high pressure white collar jobs, kindergarten teachers don't have so much stress, said Zhou Jia, another local applicant.

Despite the enthusiasm, kindergarten teachers are badly needed, Tan said.

About 200 professionals graduated from East China Normal University, the only institution in the city that has a preschool education major. But demand for kindergarten teachers exceeds 500 every year, according to officials.

Many professional graduates prefer to work in public kindergartens with better welfare benefits even though private kindergartens offer higher salaries.

Public kindergarten teachers earn slightly more than 1,000 yuan per month, plus other social insurance and allowances offered.

Successful applicants would be enrolled in a six-month training program at local universities before starting teaching in kindergartens this September.

(Shanghai Daily  March 2, 2004)