Teaching in China still popular despite deportations over visas

South Africans are still queueing up to teach English in China despite several incidents of teachers being detained and deported for visa-related violations.

Two international teacher recruitment agencies confirmed they were receiving hundreds of job applications monthly from locals wanting to teach in China.

Jim Althans, director of recruitment for Gold Star TEFL Recruitment, confirmed they received about 120 applications a month, while another agency, Teacherhorizons, said they had hundreds signing up every month for posts in Asia and the Middle East.

New Zealand education minister Chris Hipkins announced in October that he was planning to recruit 6,000 overseasbased teachers, including South Africans, because of a teacher shortage in his country.

The Chinese embassy and consulates-general in SA issued more than 1,200 work visas last year, mostly to South Africans intending to work as English teachers in China.

Those teaching English earn between R30,000 and R36,000 a month, and their perks include a free furnished flat, medical aid and a flight allowance.

Carla du Plessis, 25, from Johannesburg, who has been teaching at an international school in China since December last year, said teaching English to Chinese children was very rewarding.

“I have adapted to this lifestyle, though it did take a while.

“I would urge any South African who wants to work abroad to do proper research and make sure you don’t step a foot into another country without a work visa. If you decide to join an agency, make sure you protect yourself by asking for a Z [China] work visa before going abroad.”

Noxolo Phungula, 26, from Hattingspruit in northern KwaZulu-Natal, said there were many South Africans, as well as Africans from the rest of the continent, in China.

“The teaching profession is highly respected in China, and parents and pupils usually go to great lengths to accommodate and please their teachers.”

Helaine Going, 29, from Durban, said there were many South Africans teaching at the training centre in China where she is employed.

“The work ethic of the kids and young adults is astounding. Young children from the age of five have classes in the evenings.”

Another South African, Craig Fredericks, 25, from Cape Town, who is teaching in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province, said teaching Chinese children was “really great” because of the strict discipline at school and at home.

He said, however, that South Africans should be wary of Chinese schools that invited them to come on a tourist or business visa with the promise to switch to a work visa once they arrived.

“It is illegal to work with either a tourist or a business visa.”

● East London’s Tristan-Lee Niemand, 19, and six other South Africans were recently released from prison in China for visa-related violations and deported.

The department of international relations said on December 12 that 98 South Africans had been detained in China over the past six months for visa-related violations.