Every year on October 5, over a hundred states celebrate World Teachers Day ( World Teachers' Day ). This is a professional holiday of all teachers, teachers and educators — a day on which the role and merits of teachers in the process of quality education at all levels are noted, as well as their invaluable contribution to the development of society.
The historic prerequisite for the establishment of Teacher's Day was the Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers ( Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers ) held on October 5, 1966 in Paris. As a result, representatives of UNESCO and the International Labor Organization signed the document « Recommendations regarding the status of teachers » ( Recommendation regarding the Status of Teachers ).
In 1994, World Teacher's Day was celebrated on this day for the first time, and since then, festive events have invariably been held on October 5, although in some countries the holiday is celebrated on other days, close to this date. The main thing is that the celebrations do not coincide with the autumn holidays in the northern hemisphere and with the spring break — in the southern.
Since 1994, Russia has been celebrating Teacher's Day according to the world calendar — on October 5. This professional holiday was celebrated on the first Sunday of October.
In recent years, there has been a massive outflow of teachers caused by factors such as a reduction in the budget of public service employees, the lack of normal working conditions, the upcoming retirement of older teachers, stress, and the depletion of physical and spiritual forces, and in many countries — a significant number of teachers who died of AIDS.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problems faced by already overloaded education systems around the world, so it is now necessary to work with teachers, to protect the right to education and to write it into a new reality that is emerging in a pandemic.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, only to ensure universal primary education ( VNO ) by 2030, countries need to attract an additional 24 million teachers. The most acute problem of teacher shortages is felt in sub-Saharan Africa.
On the occasion of World Teacher's Day, UNESCO and its partners urge everyone to help disseminate information that World Teacher's Day is celebrated on October 5, as well as, what investing in teachers means investing in the future. The international community and governments must join forces to support teachers and promote quality education worldwide, especially in those countries where the largest number of children not enrolled in school live.
Infographics – poster « October 5 — World Teacher Day »