'Take a stand for teachers!'

Today is "World Teachers' Day." Teachers' organisations in various countries will hold programmes to commemorate the Day. The aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers. Hundreds of thousands of students, parents and activists around the world will pay respect to teachers on the day.
In an article published year before last, Dr. Quincy Lettsome, a veteran teacher leader, wrote: "What is now known as World Teachers' Day evolved after a number of administrative and legal procedures by teachers' organisations throughout the world. The Day was first referred to as International Teacher Day and, probably because of such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was changed to World Teachers' Day, which included all teachers throughout the world."
He further said that he was "a delegate and represented the BVI Teachers Union as president." In Geneva, Switzerland, during 1982, he made the proposal which later materialised to World Teachers' Day. This proposal was made in the forum of a three day workshop, which followed the then World Confederation of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) Assembly, which was convened in Switzerland. The proposal was made on the premise that, since there are days to honour mothers and fathers, there should be a day set aside to honour teachers. This recommendation was passed unanimously.
I contacted Robert M. Barker, a former Director of International Programmes of Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) and also a veteran senior leader of World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP), to ascertain the authenticity of Dr. Lettsome's claim, He sent a clarification which reads in the main: "I do recall the name Quincy Lettsome. In the 1980's, CTF had a great number of projects in the Caribbean, including some in the British Virgin Islands. I would have to look extensively in my files in order to ascertain just what the role of Quincy Lettsome was at the time. However, I have no reason to disbelieve that he was engaged with the BVITA during this period and that he represented the island at the WCOTP Assembly in Switzerland in 1982. I did not attend the pre-Assembly seminar in Geneva to which he refers and have no way of knowing what form his suggestion took. As I recall, WCOTP was a proponent of the idea of a recognised 'Teachers' Day,' but where the notion actually came from, I don't know. It probably came from many different sources, perhaps including Quincy Lettsome's suggestion in 1982. I am quite certain that the appeal was made by WCOTP (and possibly jointly with IFFTU and WCT) to Unesco. I am not sure when Unesco actually made it official, but it has been celebrated officially on October 5 since 1994. Education International (EI) came into being in January 1993 and it seems to be clear that it has been an ever increasingly strong proponent of World Teachers' Day since its inception."
This year, new impetus has been added in the celebration of the Day by the theme: "Take a stand for teachers!" In a joint statement commemorating World Teachers' Day 2012, Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, Unicef Executive Director, Anthony Lake, Education International General Secretary Fred Van Leeuwen said: "We take a stand for teachers. Teachers are the foundation of good schools and good schools are the pillars of healthy and democratic communities. Teachers are the keys to reaching education for all goals. An estimated 1.7 million more teacher positions are required to reach the goal of Universal Primary Education by 2015. As we recruit new teachers, we must continue to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Governments are urged to provide teachers with access to training opportunities and continued professional development, based on appropriate qualifications. Attracting committed and diverse teachers requires environments that value professional autonomy and equality. Teachers need to be supported in fulfilling their responsibilities to students, and their voices must be listened to by school leaders, education systems and public authorities. Teachers' salaries must be set objectively and fairly, such that remuneration is commensurate with the importance of the profession and the qualifications and responsibilities of individual teachers. Teachers, in turn, must be accountable to their students and communities. The teaching profession is encouraged to design and implement teacher codes of conduct, based on the highest ethical and professional standards, and to be oriented around the goal of teaching all students effectively and equally. This World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to honour the women and men who inspire, challenge and nurture us. On this day, we call for the creation of supportive teaching environments, adequate teacher training and safeguards for the rights of teachers. We must break the vicious cycle of declining professional conditions for teachers in order to improve the quality of learning for all. The world expects a lot from teachers -- they, in turn, are right to expect as much from us. This World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to take a stand for all teachers."
Meanwhile UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken the initiative to mobilise the UN agencies, the World Bank, civil society organisations as well as the private sector, to help achieve education for all children by 2015. He formally launched his initiative "Education First" at the UN Assembly in New York last month.
Non-government teachers and education employees of schools, colleges and technical and vocational institutions in Bangladesh have launched a movement for their 8-point demand and 7 recommendations for improvement of the quality of education, in line with nationalisation of education or ensuring due role by the government since education is a state responsibility as stipulated in the Unesco-ILO recommendations. It may be mentioned here that non-government educational institutions bear 98% of the burden of education in Bangladesh.
Now, under the banner of National Front of Teachers & Employees (NFTE), a joint platform of 11 national level organisations of teachers and education employees are holding a series of programmes in support of their demands. Meanwhile, the education ministry invited the NFTE for a dialogue on September 23. But the meeting did not yield any tangible result as the government could not come out with concrete decision to concede to the long-standing demands of teachers and employees, which include induction in the regular pay roll, regular promotion and increment, festival bonus, and above all security of job and the rights and privileges mentioned in the joint ILO-UNESCO recommendations of 1966 and 1997 concerning the status of teachers.
World Teachers' Day will provide opportunity for the teachers and the employees to move forward with their charter of demands more vigorously. However, a fruitful dialogue and positive attitude on the part of the government vis-a-vis the demands of the teachers and employees will be the deciding factors in resolving the current crisis in education.
The theme of this year's World Teachers' Day, "Take a stand for teachers," is very much relevant in the Bangladesh context, where not only should the role of the government be positive, the support of the guardians is also no less important. Proper evaluation of the situation by the teachers' organisations, along with sharing of the concerns of the guardians about the education of the students, is also no less important.

The writer is Chief-coordinator, National Front of Teachers & Employees (NFTE) Bangladesh.
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