SOURCE: UNESCO
Joint Message
from
Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO,
Mr Gilbert F.
Houngbo, Director-General, International Labour Organization,
Ms Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF,
Mr David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International
for
World Teachers’ Day
5
October 2022
The transformation of education
begins with teachers
“You cannot teach today the same way you did
yesterday
to prepare students for tomorrow”
John Dewey
The world has committed to transform education and to address the main obstacles
that prevent teachers from leading this transformation.
The recent report from the International Commission on the Futures of
Education, Reimagining our futures together, calls for a new social contract
for education, one in which teachers are at the centre and their profession
revalued and reimagined.
The COVID-19 crisis revealed that teachers are the engines at the heart
of our education systems. Without their work, it is impossible to provide
inclusive, equitable and quality education to every learner. They are also
essential to pandemic recovery and preparing learners for the future. Yet
unless we transform conditions for teachers, the promise of that education will
remain out of reach for those who need it most.
As reaffirmed at the recent Transforming Education Summit, this requires
the right number of empowered, motivated and qualified teachers and education
personnel in the right place with the right skills. However, in many parts of
the world, classrooms are overcrowded, and teachers are too few, on top of
being overworked, demotivated and unsupported. As a result, we are seeing an
unprecedented number of teachers leaving the profession and a significant drop
in those studying to become teachers. If these issues are not addressed, the loss
of a professional teaching corps could be a fatal blow to the realization of
Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Alongside the educational disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher
loss disproportionately affects learners in remote or poor areas, as well as
women and girls and vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Therefore, bringing qualified, supported and motivated teachers into
classrooms – and keeping them there – is the single most important thing we can
do to improve the learning and wellbeing of students and communities. The
valuable work that teachers do must also be translated into better working
conditions and pay.
Recent estimates point to the need for an additional 24.4 million
teachers in primary education and some 44.4 million teachers for secondary
education if we are to achieve universal basic education by 2030. In
sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia alone, an additional 24 million teachers
are required, accounting for about half of the need for new teachers in
developing countries.
With some of the most overcrowded classrooms in the world, sub-Saharan
Africa is also home to the most overburdened teachers and understaffed systems,
with 90% of secondary schools facing serious teaching shortages. Globally, 81%
of primary school instructors and 78% of secondary school instructors are
trained teachers. Yet in sub-Saharan Africa – with few country exceptions –
these figures are 65% and 51% respectively.
