Today Is World Teachers’ Day: Are We Taking Teachers Seriously?

Asks Joe Kingsley Eyiah, OCT, Toronto-Canada

“It is strange how unimportant your job is when you are asking for a raise, but how important it can be when you want to take a day off.”—EARL A. MATHES

October 5, every year is celebrated as World Teachers’ Day. I salute ALL TEACHERS throughout the world this October as we recognize the importance of the teaching profession in global struggles for better life

The world over, crucial changes, quite unprecedented are taking place. Countries are more integrated into a global village affecting each other’s environment, economy and culture. The world is getting smaller and at the same time the gap between the rich and the poor countries keeps widening. Undeniably, underlying all these tremendous changes is education-good education with relevance.
Education has been the major facilitator and catalyst in the astonishing changes and transformation sweeping through the world today. The role of formal (school) education in the liberation of the individual mind as well as economic dependence and in national development is therefore quite obvious. Thus, education pays off not only in literacy but also in income!
It is therefore quite obvious that education is very imperative to the sound development of individuals and nations. Every country ought to provide its people with qualitative and “not only quantitative” education! And every parent ought to ensure that their child gets the best of formal education as much as possible. In the center of good education is the TEACHER!

The teacher is the facilitator of the learning and the teaching process in the classroom.
The government and parents must support teachers in their efforts to ensure students’ successes in our schools. We cannot talk about raising student achievement without supporting the very people who will make this happen. All the stakeholders in education must support teachers with incentives to achieve ongoing teaching excellence for our students.
Teachers must also develop a professional learning framework to meet the current standard of the teaching and learning process at each stage of their teaching career. It is lamentable to note that some teachers in Ghana do not avail themselves to Professional Learning Programs (PLP) as it is the practice here in Ontario-Ghana.




Invest in Teachers:
Two years ago, the Director-Generals of UNESCO and ILO in the joint message to mark World Teachers’ Day, reminded us of the severe shortage of teachers in many countries, with an estimated 2 million new posts and 18 million additional teachers needed worldwide if universal primary education were to be achieved by 2015. It is in this vein that I humbly call on all governments around the world to put enough money, if not more, toward the training of new teachers, and toward the maintenance of already trained teachers to address the severe shortage of teachers spoken of.
I use this opportunity to appeal to the new government in Ghana to remove the policy which makes it difficult for teachers in that nation who pursue various graduate studies to return to the classroom where they are mostly needed.
There is also the problem of fair distribution of trained teachers in many countries, including Ghana. 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.” Ghana is no exception to this challenge. There must be enough incentives to attract qualified teachers to such disadvantaged areas. Such incentives may include special allowances for teachers who accept postings to those areas, provision of adequate learning and teaching materials to all schools and, accessible long distance professional development education for teachers in the disadvantaged areas.
We should be reminded that teachers are mentors, who not only guide a person academically, but also instill moral and ethical values in him/her.
Today, teachers around the world are being celebrated for their commitment and integrity which influence students for the rest of their lives. Teacher's Day appreciates teaching and the people who have opted for the profession. The best way to celebrate this day is to call on governments around the world to adequately invest in teachers.