World Teachers’ Day

Teachers of the world were celebrated and recognised on World Teachers’ Day 2021, October 5, with the theme of the day being “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”. According to The United Nations (UNESCO), this theme for Teachers’ Day is “in respect of their determined and diligent efforts in the crucial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Teachers have played a big role during this pandemic to maintain a semblance of normality. Teachers, the world over, have worked harder than ever to do their job in a totally new ‘online’ setting that required them to turn to new methods of teaching, adapt to and overcome its challenges, and then stir their students and their parents through the unfamiliar world of online classes. The teachers have kept the classes going, conducted exams, completed academic sessions, carried out complex standard operating procedures (SOPs) to keep everyone safe when the educational institutes reopened and, most of all, helped their students to cope with the pressures of the ‘new normal’. In addition to guiding students though the technological maze of online learning, the school staff also kept constant contact through emails and phone calls to answer countless queries.

World Teachers' Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers. Since then, World Teacher’s Day has been celebrated with due dignity in many countries of the world including Bangladesh since October 5, 1995. This recommendation 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.

In order to improve the quality of education and status of teachers, the government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman first took the move of nationalizing the education system in the war-ravaged country in phases. Some 36 primary schools and 1 lakh 62 thousand teachers were brought under nationalisation in FY 1972-73. Besides, the Bangabandhu government started giving monthly Tk 100 for non-government college teachers and Tk 75 for non-government school teachers from the state exchequer.

Though Bangladesh has made significant strides in the economic arena, the country couldn't ensure sufficient budgetary allocation for education. The successive governments couldn't allocate more than 2.3-2.4 percent of the GDP, which is much below the world standard rate. Also, there is a big financial discrimination between government and non-government teachers in Bangladesh.

Teachers are at the heart of the education recovery that we are making. Our teachers and educators deserve all the gratitude and praise for what they do. However, it is also true that, many experts in the field agree that the standard of teachers and teaching is steadily going down. Teaching is more than just a job. Those who take up this noble profession must undergo rigorous training. They must be familiar with the latest teaching methodologies. There have been allegations that it is not merit but other considerations which are given priority regarding appointment of teachers. Qualification of many teachers of our primary and secondary institutions has been questionable in recent years while many teachers have been reportedly sacked and suspended for various types of corruption. Our plea to our teachers on this special day would be to set standards of supreme moral and ethical standards.

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. And no education system can be better than its teachers. The eminent educationist Dr. Ralph Tyler termed teaching as a human service and said that teaching must be thought of as a mission. A country’s social, economic and political progress is indubitably directly linked with propagation of education by a teacher. A teacher produces the educators, lawyers, doctors and engineers. Being a builder of a nation, a teacher plays his vital role in transforming the fate of a nation by taking it out of the world of ignorance and darkness to the world knowledge and wisdom through his intellectual mentoring. Today’s renowned scholars, bureaucrats, scientists and politicians were once the students of their teachers.