October 5 marks a celebration for teachers
By Tania Arora, Staff Reporter
October 5 was the day to celebrate teachers and their contributions to educating young minds.
As one of the jobs where a common saying amongst educators is to ask why future teachers would ever want to become one, October 5 is when they are given recognition for everything they do. After all, professors and instructors spend almost the same crucial amount of time with their students as friends or family do.
The auspicious day was inaugurated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the year 1994. To celebrate the event in honour of all the teachers on this planet, this year UNESCO organized an international conference on the same day in Paris. According to the pre-event announcement by UNESCO, the theme for the year was “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.”
The theme was chosen by UNESCO to “remind the global community that the right to education cannot be achieved without the right to trained and qualified teachers,” according to their website. The event page states that one of the most pressing issues with regards to education is a lack of educators worldwide.
“There are an estimated 264 million children and youth still out of school globally,” states UNESCO’s website. “To reach the 2030 Education Goals of universal primary and secondary education, the world needs to recruit almost 69 million new teachers.” The site goes on to point out that this problem is prevalent in communities housing “vulnerable populations, such as girls, children with disabilities, refugee and migrant children, or poor children living in rural or remote areas.”
The teaching profession is unlike many others: It often requires teachers to get into the role of caregivers. Their role isn’t just limited to teaching what is a part of the textbook, but rather they act as a link between society as a whole and youngsters, thereby also helping students develop social and emotional skills.
Canada has a dearth of certified teachers. In order to get into the profession, BC schools usually require teaching certificates. They are issued by the Canadian Ministry of Education, with the rules differing in each province for how to be certified.
World Teachers’ Day is a chance to acknowledge a profession where the rewards can be less direct. Teaching a student is like planting a plant, nurturing it, and watering it, knowing that you won’t be able to take the fruits back home.
