| "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 |
