Demand for Mandarin teachers is now so high that schools are bringing in staff directly from China to satisfy the growing appetite from pupils and parents to learn a language that they believe holds the key to future global prosperity.

In a groundbreaking agreement 100 teachers are being brought to Britain from China, with official Chinese support, to work in state secondary schools that specialise in modern foreign languages.

The deal has been brokered by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (the SSAT), an educational charity, with Han Ban, the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Initially, schools will each host two Chinese teaching assistants, who will also be used to work in other local schools.

About 60 Chinese Language Assistants were placed in English schools last year under this scheme rising by a further 20 this year. Numbers are expected to reach 100 by September 2008.

The Chinese teachers will be funded and paid for by Han Ban and the schools. They will be expected to stay for up to two years. Once in Britain they will be given training to ensure that they are equipped to teach in English schools.

Sir Cyril Taylor, the chairman of the SSAT, said that his organisation would work with schools in England that wanted to offer Mandarin, which he described as a “strategic language”.

While he did not think that Mandarin teaching should be made compulsory, Sir Cyril said that universities were desperate for more people who could speak the language. “Cambridge University’s Sino-studies department will basically accept any good applicant that studies Mandarin,” he said.

The initiative comes after a surge in interest in Mandarin, now taught in about 400 state and independent schools, mostly at beginner level. A handful of schools, including Brighton College, have made it compulsory.

Mandarin is regarded as one of the essential languages for those hoping to do business with the emerging economic giants of the 21st century.

Some parents are hiring Mandarin-speaking nannies to give their infants the ultimate head start. A recent survey also found that pressure is coming from employers.

The examinations watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has proposed recently removing the requirement that schools must first teach a European language at Key Stage 3 to let them teach any leading spoken world language, depending on local need and circumstances.

The SSAT initiative comes after the signing of a memoradum of understanding between the Department for Education and Han Ban. Mandarin is not easy to learn. Students have to master at least 4,000 characters of an unfamiliar alphabet to reach a basic conversational level.

Some schools and parents question whether a typical pupil will be able to master enough of the language for it to be economically useful to them.

A better alternative, they suggest, could be lessons in Chinese culture and history.

Signs of times

— Chinese integrates both meaning and pronunciation information in its characters

— The country almost decided to abolish characters in the 1950s; even now, most Chinese are not taught the rich tradition behind their writing system

— The official population is 1.29 billion. Some experts say it is nearer 1.5 billion

Source: Times database

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