World Teachers' Day 2023: Date, History, Theme, Significance And All You Need To Know

World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually on October 5 to honour all teachers around the world.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) started World Teachers' Day or International Teachers' Day and it is co-convened in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and Education International (EI).

Just ahead of World Teachers’ Day 2023, UNESCO has published new data showing that 44 million teachers are still needed to achieve the goal of providing primary and secondary education for all by 2030.

The problem is not only one of funding, but also the unattractiveness of the profession, the United Nations agency said.

UNESCO has made 7 recommendations to its Member States to improve the status of teachers. They are:

• Invest in improving initial teacher education and in continuing professional development programmes.

• Establish mentoring programmes that pair experienced teachers with newer ones and encourage peer collaboration.

• Ensure that teachers receive competitive salaries and benefits, particularly in relation to other professions requiring similar levels of qualifications, as well as opportunities for advancement.

• Streamline administrative tasks and paperwork to allow teachers to focus more on teaching and less on bureaucracy.

• Promote a healthy work-life balance by setting reasonable expectations for working hours and reducing unnecessary workload.

• Provide access to mental health and counselling services to help teachers cope with stress and emotional challenges.

• Promote strong and supportive school leadership that values teachers' input, provides constructive feedback, and fosters a positive work environment.

Here's all you need to know about the World Teachers' Day 2023:

The theme for World Teachers' Day 2023 is "The Teachers We Need For The Education We Want: The Global Imperative To Reverse The Teacher Shortage."

With this theme, 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. 

UNESCO proclaimed October 5 to be World Teachers’ Day in 1994, celebrating the great step made for teachers on 5 October 1966, when a special intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO in Paris adopted the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, in cooperation with the ILO.

As per UNESCO, this recommendation sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers as well as international standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, teaching and learning conditions. Since its adoption, the Recommendation has been considered an important set of guidelines to promote teachers’ status in the interest of quality education.

October 5 also celebrates the adoption by the UNESCO General Conference in 1997 of the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel.

UNESCO says that 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.