Celebrating our teachers
Teachers form the crucial link in the education chain. Irrespective of the amount budgeted for education or how motivated learners are – without teachers the education system cannot function.
So says the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools who are encouraging us to celebrate World Teachers’ Day on 16 October (the United Nations celebrates this day annually on 5 October, but this date is during our school holiday so we’re having ours on the first Friday of the new term).
The day is an international opportunity to thank teachers for their important role and this year the international theme is “Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies”.
“This theme acknowledges the important role of educators – not only in the lives of individual learners, but also in society as a whole,” says Dr Jaco Deacon, Deputy CEO of FEDSAS.
“Do something special on 16 October this year. Contact your old school or a teacher who made a difference in your life.
Write a letter or a poem, treat them to a tea party or simply send flowers – any show of appreciation to acknowledge the work that teachers do.”
The FEDSAS Facebook page is also available to post stories and photos of the difference that teachers made to people’s lives. Former and current learners can also visit www. myoldschool.co.za to make a difference. According to UNESCO: •1.4 million new teaching posts required to achieve universal primary education (UPE) by 2015
•2.6 million replacement teachers are needed by 2015
•Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest need for additional primary teachers by 2015, at 0.9 million (representing 63% of the world total)
•Countries which need to create the most teaching posts by 2015 include: Nigeria, Pakistan, Mozambique, Uganda and UR Tanzania
•Globally 58 million children of primary school age are currently out of school, 53% of them are girls.
Read Grahamstown-born, Rhodes alumnus, Eusebius Mckaiser's piece on his inspirational teachers at St Mary's Primary School:
http://bit.ly/GrocEd or on his Eusebius Mckaiser F acebook page:
https://www.facebook. com/eusebius.mckaiser/ posts/10101318626020049