World Teachers’ Day is celebrated on October 5th every year. The day was first celebrated in 1994 under the aegis of the United Nations and since then it is observed annually all over the world. Every year, ILO, UNESCO, and Education International (EI) collaborate with each other to commemorate World Teachers’ Day to acknowledge the role of teachers in building a better world.
World Teachers’ Day is a worldwide event, and it is different from Teachers’ Day, which falls on the first Tuesday of May and is a component of Teacher Appreciation Week. UNESCO and ILO try to make sure that the problems of teachers are addressed at the top policy-making platforms so that governments all over the world take concrete steps to improve the working conditions of teachers, including hiring, training, and professional development.
The theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day is the need to address the systemic issues that educators confront and to start a more inclusive conversation about their role in education. The theme of the 2024 celebrations, “Valuing teacher voices: towards a new social contract for education,” will highlight how urgent it is to listen to and support teachers’ voices in order to address the difficulties they face and, above all, to recognize and take advantage of the specialized knowledge and contributions they make to the field of education.
What Can You Do to Play Your Part?
Considering the crucial role of teachers in any society, everyone has to play their role to recognise and celebrate teachers wherever it is possible. If you are a student, you can do a number of small but important things to let your teacher know how much you appreciate their role in your life. You don’t need to spend a lot; you can just write a heartfelt note and leave it on their desk, make a simple handmade gift, or take a small flower bouquet to your teacher.
You can also ask your school, college, or university to have regular teachers’ appreciation programs so that teachers can be nominated and appreciated systematically. If you are part of the management of any education institute, then you can start appreciating teachers through social media accounts with appreciation posts from the students and the management.
Challenges For Teachers All Over The World
The world needs an additional 44 million teachers to achieve universal and secondary education by 2030, according to a 2024 UNESCO Global Report on Teachers. All countries, whether they are rich or poor, are facing massive shortages of teachers. For instance, sub-Saharan Africa needs 15 million additional teachers, while the rich and industrialized countries are facing retention challenges as teachers leave the profession after entering the workforce.
The UNESCO report also warned that the deadline of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 2030 is approaching, and the shortage of teachers is a big hurdle in achieving these goals. The report also said that a global teacher shortage is badly hurting easy access to education, which is resulting in overcrowded classrooms, low teaching quality, and limited learning opportunities, especially in developing countries.
Massive Shortage of Teachers In Canada. But Why?
Canada is facing an enormous shortage of teachers in all of its provinces and territories. The situation is so critical that the “crisis situation” is now threatening the whole education system because the existing teachers are facing mental health issues and high burnout rates among teachers, due to which they are not able to perform their basic duties.
The President of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Heidi Yetman, believes that ‘there is no shortage of teachers, but rather a shortage of decent working conditions’. The Canadian Teachers’ Federation, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020, maintains that Canada has reached a critical juncture, and if the provincial and territorial governments don’t take emergency measures, then the situation will continue to deteriorate.
The situation is so bad in British Columbia that the province has allowed uncertified teachers to teach in certain circumstances. B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) has been running an advertising campaign recently to force the provincial government to resolve the problems. The union president, Clint Johnston, told CBC News that they have been raising the issue of teachers’ shortages for over a decade, but the situation has got worse in recent years. He said that there are several factors that have contributed, such as the high cost of living in BC and early retirements of teachers during the pandemic, etc. The situation is expected to further deteriorate in the future because one out of six teachers in BC is thinking to leave the profession because of work load and high burnout rates, according to a new survey.
The situation is similar in other provinces as well. For instance, the situation in Ontario has changed from bad to worse after the COVID-19 pandemic because a lot of experienced teachers took early retirement, whereas young people tend to avoid filling up new vacancies. Teachers say the situation is now badly hurting kids. The lack of resources and the shortage of teachers are being felt all over Canada; it is not a problem of just one province or territorial government, according to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
Conclusion
Considering the problems and challenges that teachers face today, World Teachers’ Day this year becomes more important compared to previous years. As noted by the UNESCO report, the world as a whole can’t meet SDG 4 unless the world turns its attention to the core problems of teachers. It is also noteworthy that the teachers’ problems all around the world have so many similarities, no matter whether the country is rich or poor. Let’s hope that we can all work together and appreciate the hard work that our teachers are putting in every day to make our children’s future brighter.
Edison College’s Advantage: What We Believe In?
On this World Teachers’ Day, Edison College reiterates its commitment to its teachers that the college will continue to engage with them so that they can provide the best possible education to our students. Edison College believes that its teachers are a crucial part of the organisation, and that without their well being and continuous growth, the college can’t grow and meet its goals.
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