World Teachers' Day recognizes the contribution educators make to the world and reminds people to show their gratitude for the teachers who impacted their own lives.
"While teachers were once highly respected professionals, valued, trusted and accepted as inspirational role models for young people, nowadays they too easily serve as scapegoats for the failures of education systems," a concept note for the occasion on UNESCO's website explained. Now, there's a concern that not enough young people are pursuing education as a profession, meaning there could be a teacher shortage as older educators retire in the coming decade. To meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, UNESCO estimates that more than 69 million primary and secondary education teachers must be recruited by 2030.
A teacher reads to her pupils on the first day of the school year on September 2 at Toussaint Louverture school in Clichy-la-Garenne, France. Saturday is World Teachers' Day and the theme for 2019 is"The Future of the Profession," focusing on recruiting more young teachers and modern challenges educators face.The message continued with a request that governments make teaching a first choice profession for young people.