•  united nations
• Saturday, October 30, 2010
• Inter Press Service

The promise of education for all by 2015 made 10 years ago at the World Education Forum risks not to be kept without the recruitment of sufficient numbers of well-trained and professionally motivated teachers, the heads of four major UN agencies said. International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia, U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark, U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova and U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake issued the joint statement on World Teachers' Day.

They stressed that the situation of teachers' low status, low salary and poor working conditions discourages both professionals and talented young people from joining or remaining in the teaching profession. Teachers not only provide lectures but also much-needed psycho-social support both during natural disasters and other crisis, to youngsters who have witnessed extreme violence or loss of home and family members, a major focus of the Day's main celebration at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Other presentations covered the topic of accelerating teacher development through new technologies while worrisome statistics showed the global teacher shortage, with only 5 years left to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 2 - achieving universal primary education - deadline.

During last year World Teacher Day, U.N. officials warned governments of the dangers in slashing education budgets because of the ongoing global economic crisis while over 10 million teachers needed to be recruited in order to meet MDG 2. Lower spending on education would have dramatic short and long-term consequences on the quality of education, threatening progress especially in low-income countries, said former UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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