Education partners’ heads comprising UNESCO, International Labour Organization or ILO, UNICEF, UNDP and Education International on Monday call for invest in empowering, recruiting and supporting teachers.
The partners in their message marking World Teachers’ Day under the theme: ‘Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies’, say quality teachers improve educational levels, the ability of young people to participate in society and today’s knowledge economies, boosting productivity and prosperity.
They say the new global education goal calls for ‘inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
The partners acknowledged that in poor communities and conflict-affected countries, quality teaching can literally change children’s lives; help them overcome enormous challenges and preparing them for better lives and brighter futures.
They say around the world today, far too many teachers are undervalued and disempowered.
The partners cite a mounting shortage of quality teachers, unequal distribution of trained teachers and inadequate or non-existent national standards for the teaching profession as key contributing factors to wide equity gaps in access and learning.
They say poorest regions and schools and the earliest grades are often the most affected, terming it a ‘deeply troubling gap’.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that to achieve universal primary education by 2020 countries will need to recruit 10.9 million primary teachers.