The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on 5 October to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.
It is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.
The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching personnel in higher education. World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated since 1994.
2023 celebrations
Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfilment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status.
With the theme "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage", the 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda. Through various activities, they will advocate for a dignified and valued teaching profession, analyse their challenges, and showcase inspiring practices to attract, retain and motivate teachers and educators. It will also examine the ways in which education systems, societies, communities, and families recognise, appreciate, and actively support teachers.
Congratulations!
Celebration of the successful completion of Africa Educates Her Campaign with Sofonie Dala - Season 3
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's entertainment!
This night at this place, we have a great deal to celebrate. And I want to begin by saying, simply, to every one of you - thank you.
Girls in rural areas of Africa are excluded from education not because of cultural resistance or unwillingness, but because of poverty - the main barrier to girls' education.
Our today's activity was carried out in a rural community. We decided to give our support to girls who are not studying due to extreme poverty and also because of the barriers that Covid-19 has caused.
We carry out activities such as conducting a lesson, singing, reciting poetry and distributing school and biosafety materials.
"If a poor girl cannot come to the education, then education must go to her."
Our case study today are the sisters Teresa and Tininha, they participated in our interview at the end of last year. According to them, they stopped studying in 2018 because of serious financial problems facing the family. Fortunately, we also had the opportunity to speak with their mother who certified that she has no financial means to pay for her daughters' studies. They live in a rural area, in the slate house in very poor conditions where they never had electricity or clean water. With the advent of Covid-19, their lives became even more difficult.
Thank God, we had a basic class with them, we distributed some school and biosafety materials such as notebooks, pencils and surgical masks. They thanked and were very happy.
Click here to see their first interview:
Webisode 8. Interview with Fernanda (Tininha)
Webisode 9. Interview with Teresa
Webisode 6. Interview with Luisa - the mother
Women in rural communities, in particular, have been left behind
In times of crisis or conflict, education is on the frontline. Everyone is affected but specially girls' and women. COVID-19 threatens the right of over 10 million African girls to education - these girls might never come back to school if we do not take action!
For over a decade, education for girls has been identified as one of the best solutions to reversing the relentless trend of poverty and disease devastating large portions of sub-Saharan Africa.
Entry poetry by Teresa, followed by a basic class with the children
Hello, my name is Teresa, I am 13 years old, I stopped studying when I was in seventh grade in 2018 due to financial problems. All these kids who are here with me don't study either.
However, I would like to recite a poem about Covid-19:
There are diseases that are worse than diseases
There are diseases that are more than disease
That make things more urgent and more difficult
I fear coronavirus and zeal for my life
Our faith is the vaccine
The pandemic that now dominates the world haunts me
I didn't want this plague
Protect yourself and protect us
There is no evil that lasts forever
Have resilience because everything passes!
After reciting the poem, Teresa decided to leave an appeal to all sponsors and investors:
Coronavirus is one of the reasons that these children do not study. I hope that a sponsor will appear to finance the school for all the girls.
After all we had a basic class in which the children learned to speak English.
The class was so fruitful that at the end of the program, the children shouted in chorus "We want to study, we want to study"!
"We want to study, we want to study"!
"We want to study, we want to study"!
Post-Campaign Report
Our campaign, named "Africa Educates Her Angola - Season 3'', started on December 18, 2020, collecting over 40 video interviews of girls and young ladies with different academic levels, from pre-school to university degrees. Some participants never attended school and others dropped out of school for various reasons, such as teenage pregnancy, poverty, child marriage and the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic.
From season 1 launched in August 2020 to to season 3 ended in January 2021, over hundred students including teachers were interviewed.
All participants were from different provinces of Angola. The data showed that COVID-19 pandemic lockdown affected the academic performance of most participants (99%) with varying degrees.
20% of the girls we interviewed are no longer students, they dropped out of school many years ago due to poverty, teen pregnancy and child marriage. Today they regret bitterly for dropping out of school for futile reasons.
35% of the girls we interviewed returned to school in October 2020 once they reopened. But most girls are dissatisfied with the weak conditions that their school created against the covid-19. They complain that there is not enough protection or biosafety materials. In addition, some teachers and students do not follow the preventive measures against covid-19.
Many students commented that they forgot almost everything they studied before the pandemic, and this affected their exams. According to them, the exams were very difficult.
45% of the girls we interviewed have been out of school since March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and inability to pay school fees. Many of them spend their entire day at home busy with housework, some spend their days on the streets playing and dancing with friends.
However, they all dream of returning to school one day.
It is important to remember that schools in Angola reopened in early October, the Angolan government postponed the resumption of lessons in primary education (1st to 5th grade), the largest chunk of the education system. The postponement in the Primary Education owed to the increase in Covid-19 positive cases in the country.
The main goal of the campaign is to ensure all girls have access to a quality and safe education by dismantling the barriers imposed by Covid-19, poverty, teenage pregnancy and child marriage. In addition, we also want to partner with communities in support of girls ’education.
The campaign works to integrate girls who have dropped out of school back into the education system.
Brief covid-19 considerations and special song by Engracia
Hello, my name is Engracia, I will talk about the damage that the coronavirus caused in my country Angola.
Since the coronavirus emerged, a lot has happened in my country, such as increased hunger and poverty and also because of this same disease, many parents lost their jobs, many children stopped going to school, we lost our school year.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic many parents, mothers and children are locked up at home. For example, I am also a student and spent a lot of time at home without studying!
However, I would like to sing a special song for you!
School school school is beautiful, see you tomorrow comrade teacher, if God wants tomorrow we will come again!
When the quarantine passes I want to enjoy,
I will love I will love until I say enough
And if the world ends it may even end,
But I will live with you in the heavenly city
School, school school that teaches us to read and write, I want to go
I want to go to school, school, school even with this pandemic
Time will repair everything that it caused and will fix it
Time will show me everything that wins, it will fix
School school, school I want to go to school to learn to read and write
I want to be someone in life, I want to go to school my God help us
I want to go to school, school to learn
I want to go to school to learn
I want to go to school, school, school
I miss my classmates.
“While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not.” We campaign and advocate at the international, regional and national level to put pressure on governments and the international community to deliver the right of everyone to a free, quality, public education.
I want to express to each of you my deep gratitude for contributing to the success of this outstanding campaign.
Together we have transformed African consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become, and have taken this continent a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for educational justice, economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice.
Gallery
Interviews - the Complete Collection
Ladies and gentlemen, here Ladies a glimpse of how the post-COVID-19 education looks like for students in Angola.
1.Webisode 41:Celebrating the successful completion of the Season3
2. Penultimate Webisode 40 with Audia
16. Webisode 26. Interview with Felicia
17. Webisode 25. Interview with Belma
18. Webisode 24. Interview with Estefania
19. Webisode 23. Interview with Luenda
20. Webisode 22. Interview with Nicha
21. Webisode 21. Interview with Filo
22. Webisode 20. Interview with Meury
23. Webisode 19. Interview with Teresa
24. Webisode 18. Interview with Isabel
25. Webisode 17. Interview with Esperança João
26. Webisode 16. Interview with Iracelma + Augusta
27. Webisode 15. Interview with Laurinda
28. Webisode 14. Interview with Marcelina
29. Webisode 13. Interview with Inacia
30. Webisode 12. Interview with Tania
31. Webisode 11. Interview with Filismina
32. Webisode 10. Interview with Angelina
33. Webisode 9. Interview with Teresa
34. Webisode 8. Interview with Fernanda (Tininha)
35. Webisode 7. Interview with: Maria Gomes
36. Webisode 6. Interview with Luisa
37. Webisode 5. Interview with Arieth
38. Webisode 4. Interview with Filomena
39. Webisode 3. Interview with: Edvania
40. Webisode 2. Interview with Engacia
41. Webisode 1. Launching Season 3: Speech of Sofonie Dala + interview with Laurinda
⏬Overview of Africa Educates Her Campaign Angola. Interview with Sofonie Dala. Bonus
⏬ Celebrating the successful completion of the Season 2
⏬Celebrating the successful completion of the Season 1
Many many thanks, we hope to see you soon!
We launched this campaign to ensure that every girl is able to learn while schools are closed and return to the classroom when schools safely reopen. Everyone can play a role in supporting girls education - whether you are a teacher, parent, student, journalist, policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen.
Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Tell us your story!
Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus would you like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the poverty among women?
FIND SOMEONE TO SPONSOR TODAY
Your sponsorship will help the most vulnerable girls and women to take the first step out of poverty.
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