Beijing (CNS) -- "Kids not only need reading, but also physical exercise led by male teachers," said an official speaking at the forum Innovative Reading for Kids held in Beijing on May 13.
More than 30 teacher representatives from kindergartens across the country attended the forum, none of them male.
Cai Guoxiong, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said mainland schools can learn from Taiwan schools by recruiting more male kindergarten teachers and legislating standardized early education.
Cai has led the mainland delegation to Taiwan to study their advanced early education model for many times.
The quip 'male teachers on the mainland are as scarce as giant pandas' reveals the sad truth. Statistics show of the 900,000 kindergarten teachers in China, only 3,000 are male, and they work mainly in the Pearl and Yangtze River Delta regions.
