Teachers are architects of a sustainable future

 Ranjan K Baruah

(With direct inputs from UN/WHO publication and feedback may be sent to bkranjan@gmail.com)

Teachers are always architects of the nation as they develop human resources. There might be exceptions with a few individuals, but teachers are always the people who encourage and promote an individual’s success. Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfilment.

The interesting fact is that the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage, exacerbated by a decline in conditions and status. In 2023, World Teachers’ Day (WTD), which is observed on October 5, aims to put the importance of a dignified and valued teaching profession at the top of the global agenda. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESC) has been working since its creation to ensure the right to education as a fundamental contribution to human rights and to building and defending international peace. This year’s WTD will focus on the theme of reversing the shortage by improving the appeal of the teaching profession. Celebrations will focus on the meaningfulness of being a teacher and the urgency of attracting and retaining qualified teachers into the profession. It will insist on the dual imperative of attracting youth to teaching programmes and the imperative to make the profession attractive for those in service in order to curb teacher attrition.

The 2023 WTD is framed within the wider context of a new social contract and the transformation of education. WTD commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions. The Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching personnel in higher education. WTD has been celebrated since 1994.

We should not confuse it with the Teachers Day celebration in India. We celebrate the day on September 5, and similarly, there are different dates for different countries to celebrate their teachers’ day. UNESCO advocates for the teaching profession worldwide and disseminates the results of research studies on innovative practices, trends, and the challenges ahead. The day is important as it raises concerns and issues related to teachers from global perspectives. There is no doubt that teachers are the key people who help transform a society in a positive way. Apart from being formal teachers, there are many other roles for ant teachers. Apart from imparting formal education they also infuse students with moral characters that are ethical. There are teachers who work in community schools with very limited honorarium but contribute in a big way to the development of the community.

With the theme “the teachers we need for the education we want: the global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”, the 2023 celebrations will aim to highlight the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda. A shortage of teachers is a global concern, and it is common in many government schools in our region too. In spite of having sanctioned posts, many vacancies exist, and students face challenges due to a shortage of teachers, which lowers the quality.

Whenever I interact with students during my session, I can see that many students aspire to become teachers. Most of them prefer to join government schools as they feel there is security in government schools. Teachers can be anywhere, no matter whether teaching in a government school, a private school, or even a community school, but they must prove to be the best and inspire their students, who can contribute towards a sustainable future.