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. They had to pass a series of interviews with specialists as well as educational and embassy officials from Mauritius, office representatives said.

These teachers, aged between 24 to 30, all have bachelor or masters degrees and had to go through a two-week course before leaving.

Some 10 schools in Mauritius have had Chinese courses for 20 years. More than 1,200 students attend these schools. In its new teaching plan this year, Mauritius has included Chinese in teaching programs among primary schools. Thus, the number of students who study Chinese has risen dramatically. More schools are likely to start offering Chinese courses.

Educational departments in Mauritius have asked China to send more teachers to meet the rising demand.

In fact, sending volunteers to Mauritius is only a part of the office's plan this year. More Chinese teachers will be sent to foreign countries, sources from the office said.

The number of Chinese teachers abroad can hardly meet the global need as a rising number of foreigners show a feverish desire to learn Chinese, said Vice-Minister of education Zhang Xinsheng.

Statistics show that more than 25 million people around the world are learning Chinese, and 100 countries have opened Chinese courses in their various educational institutions.

There is a shortage of Chinese teachers in all five continents. Some countries, such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Egypt, South Africa, and countries in Europe and North and South America, have asked China to send more Chinese teachers.

To meet the demand, the office has implemented the Volunteer Program for International Chinese Teachers.

Under the program, China will start recruiting volunteers and send them abroad to help foreigners study Chinese.

To ensure the quality of teaching, the Ministry of Education has issued a regulation to evaluate the teachers' competence.

The regulation is applicable to Chinese natives, overseas Chinese and foreigners 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, China sent 19 Chinese teachers to the Philippines last year. Now we have received a request from the Philippines saying that it needs 300 more," said Yan.

"It depends on how many Chinese teachers are needed in foreign countries, and how many volunteers we can recruit," she said.

The global fever to learn Chinese could 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)