The United Nations' (UN) World Teachers' Day is observed on October 05 each year across the globe including Pakistan to commemorate the work of teachers and their contributions to society. The emphasis this year is on developing teacher policies, the only foundation for ensuring sustainable and high-quality recruitment. The shortage of qualified teachers remains a crucial problem.
UNESCO estimates that 18 million more teachers are needed to reach the goal of universal primary education (UPE) by 2015. The shortage is particularly acute in Africa, where an additional 3.8 million teachers are required to achieve UPE. The shortage of teachers in countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique means that classes can have as many as 60 pupils.
It is generally recognised that quality education cannot be provided in classes with more than 40 pupils. "Even when the overall supply of teachers is sufficient, remote and disadvantaged areas across the globe may suffer persistent problems in recruitment and retention. This shortage of qualified teachers is one of the biggest challenges to achieving the Education for All (EFA) goals," stresses the Joint Message delivered to mark the Day by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Thulas Nxesi, President of Education International (EI). Quantity is not the only problem.
Insufficient training is another serious handicap. In developing countries, it is not unusual to find teachers who have no advanced education themselves (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UIS). To improve the situation, only coherent policies can promote the recruitment of teachers in sufficient numbers, guarantee their status and ensure quality training.
As a result of UNESCO's Teacher Training Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISA), Congo has thus been able to develop an overall policy on teachers aimed not only at hiring more, but also at handling questions of status, working conditions and management.
World Teachers' Day underlines the importance of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. Another UNESCO recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997. Both recommendations lay down the guidelines on issues such as training and employment conditions for teachers; participation of teachers and their representatives in educational decisions; and measures that should be taken in each country to promote quality teachers and learning environments.
They are the only comprehensive international standards for the teaching profession in existence.
The Day celebrates the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. This enables children and adults of all ages to learn to take part in and contribute to their local community and global society. Various events are arranged in many countries around the world on or around October 5.
These include celebrations to honour teachers in general or those who have made a special contribution to a particular community. The day may also be marked by conferences emphasising the importance of teachers and learning, extra training sessions for teachers, recruitment drives for the teaching profession among university students or other suitably qualified professionals and events to increase the profile of teachers and the role they play in the media. On October 5, 1966, the Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers in Paris, France, was closed and the "Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers" was signed by representatives of UNESCO and International Labour Organisation. On October 12, 1997, the 29th session of UNESCO's General Conference was opened.
During this conference, on November 11, 1997, the "Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel" was adopted. On October 5, 1994, the first World Teachers' Day was held.
This event has been organised on the same date each year since then. However, local events may be on some other date close to October 5, so that they do not fall during fall (northern hemisphere) or spring (southern hemisphere) school vacations.