Commentary: World Teachers Day

By:

Keghyol Tertsea Solomon

Fifth October is celebrated annually as World Teachers Day. The aim is to mobilize support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generation will continue to be met by teachers, hence the saying that “No Nation can rise above the quality of its teacher”.

The origin of World Teachers’ Day celebration is traced to 1966 special inter-governmental conference on the status of teachers held in Paris, which ended on the fifth of October. It was organized by UNESCO in collaboration with ILO. However, it became an official annual celebration from October 5, 1994

No doubt, all professionals, lawyers, doctors, media men, captains of industries, technocrats, Chief Executive Officers, politicians etcetera went through the tutelage of teachers from the kindergarten to nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions via formal, informal, non formal education or part time classes as children or adults.

World Teachers’ Day, therefore, is a period when students, pupils, parents, leaders and activists around the world are supposed to pay homage to their teachers who have contributed to their socio-cultural, moral, economic and political wellbeing. This day, the world understands the value of teachers and how to improve their future.

The theme for this year, “Teachers Leading in Crisis: Reimagining the Future”, is very apt, considering the fact that the teacher, as a role model, is looked upon and imitated in several ways by the child who, invariably, is a future leader. It therefore implies that the teacher plays a critical role in the pedagogical business to ensure that we get it right today.

It is the teacher that ensures proper training and management of the child against certain immoral behaviours and other vices such as drug abuse, cultism, rape, campus marriage, robbery, indecent dressing and others. Teachers do this because they know that the events of today, determine the shape of the future.

Education is the greatest investment that any Nation can make for the quick development of its economic, political, sociological and human resources. Therefore, the teacher, as the pivot on which the system revolves, is expected to be adequately motivated and encouraged. By so doing, he puts in his best to ensure a brighter and peaceful future for the society as the saying goes, what you sow is what you will reap.

In this direction, the Governor of Anambra state, Chief Willie Obiano, (Akpokuedike Global), the Senior Advocate of Teachers (SAN), must be appreciated for his giant strides in the education sector, especially for the provision of infrastructural equipment to schools.

Worthy of note also is the ingenuity of the Ministry of Basic Education and the Anambra Broadcasting Service for the introduction of the “Teaching on Air Radio Program”. The program, invariably, gave teachers the opportunity to prove their mettle at the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Teachers in Anambra State, on this day, commend the ebullient teacher- friendly governor for his favourable disposition to education that makes Anambra record first in all external examinations for years and prompt payment of salaries and allowances of teachers.

As teachers join their counterparts all over the World to celebrate the day, it should be borne in mind that teaching, as a profession and vocation, calls for high personnel standards of ethic and responsibility. It also calls for integrity, code of values, soundness, completeness, decency, probity and morality. The profession identifies teachers as the models of every society. They are classic, flawless and impeccable, meaning that they are well equipped to lead in crisis time with the future in mind.

If you can write your name, thank your teacher; if you cannot write your name, look for a qualified teacher. Teaches are great! No – controversy!