World Teachers’ Day today

The World Teachers’ Day or International Teachers’ Day is being observed today (October 5).

This year’s theme of the day is – The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate statements, marking the day.

In his statement, the President said, “Teachers, the great artisans of building an ideal nation, are always dedicated souls as beacons of knowledge and wisdom. Teachers are the society’s lighthouses as well as the chief engineers of building good citizens.”

He said that World Teachers’ Day declared by UNESCO is being celebrated nationally for the first time in Bangladesh. On this occasion, I extend my sincere greetings and congratulations to all the dedicated teachers of Bangladesh.

In her statement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the main driving force of education is the teacher. Teaching is a noble profession. A teacher has many responsibilities. It is not only the responsibility of the teacher to impart moral knowledge, but also to make a qualitative change in his/her behaviour, to establish the foundation of moral and social values in order to make a student a complete human being.

On October 5th, 1966, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) signed a recommendation concerning the “Status of Teachers.”

To recognize this significant anniversary and commemorate the signing of the 1966 document, UNESCO created International Teacher’s Day in 1994. The focus is aimed primarily at the issues faced by teachers and the goals outlined in the recommendation.

Set up in 1994 after the UNESCO Recommendation concerning teachers, the day celebrates the marking of “teaching in freedom” in 1996 and the day is celebrating from then.