UNESCO inaugurated World Teachers’ Day on 5 October 1994 to celebrate and commemorate the signing of the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers on 5 October 1966. World Teachers’ Day also highlighted the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel adopted in 1997. Some countries such as Taiwan also celebrate Teacher's Day as a national holiday.
| "Today on World Teachers’ Day, we ask parents and all citizens to take a moment to think of the difference that a good teacher, a memorable teacher, has made in your life. Where would you be now if that teacher hadn’t crossed your path, if, demotivated, that teacher had already left the profession? That is what is happening now, in large numbers, in rich and poor communities alike: massive flights of teachers prompted by budget cutbacks in public service, by chaotic working conditions, by imminent retirement for ageing staff, by stress and burnout, and in many communities by a massive death-toll of teachers due to HIV/AIDS. The result is a teacher shortage crisis - up to an estimated 35 million new primary school teachers may be needed globally by 2015, almost as many as are currently teaching in primary education. Without these teachers, the millennium goals to which the countries of the world have committed themselves – especially those of achieving universal primary education and eradicating extreme poverty, for which education is so important - will not be met." - Joint Message from the heads of UNESCO, the ILO, UNDP and UNICEF, 2003 |
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