Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This Recommendation 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. This years theme is “Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.” We recognise the critical importance of reaffirming the value of the teaching mission. UNESCO works with teachers in many different capacities. We have compiled some teacher profiles to highlight some amazing individuals doing great work in their communities and embody this years theme.
Mr. Challi Bejiga Mekaneyesus Primary school Addis Ababa
Mr. Challi Bejiga is a trained school director. He is leading the Mekaneyesus Primary school in Addis Ababa since 2016. In addition, he is a Chemistry teacher at grades 7 and 8. He dedicates his time in helping students learn the sciences for better lives. He strongly believes that the young is the future of the nation . Mr. Challi has the vision to make the school one of the five best schools in Addis Ababa.
Nqobile Ngwenya is a vibrant 35 year 0ld, young teacher who teaches Life Skills Education at Nhlangano Central High School. She also teaches English and Siswati. She has benefitted from the UNESCO Connect With Respect (CWR) capacity building workshop which was held on the 30th September-3rd October, 2019, at Eswatini.
Nqobile Ngwenya teacher at Nhlangano Central High School
She presented one of the CWR activities at the workshop with so much vigor and exhibiting such a passion for the profession. Whe presenting she had the audience at her finger tips. She was able to fully engage the teachers through song, play and fun. When interviewed about her strategy she said ‘learning through play’ was her teaching approach. She emphasized that she uses this strategy when teaching her learners at her school and she has since realized that learners enjoy learning in this way and it makes them cooperate. She also expressed how she does not experience behavior problems in her classes. This mentioned that this is despite the fact that one of the classes she teaches in the school is labelled as a ‘naughty’ class. She also revealed that she has a very close relationship with her learners and they view her as their second mother. She was of the impression that through this capacity building exercise she has been equipped with more skills and believes they will enable her to change the learners overall behavior even beyond her classes.
Priscilla Chete lives in Ndilande, Blantyre
Priscilla Chete is a 35 years old teacher at Njamba Community Day Secondary School in Blantyre. She has been in the teaching profession for 10 years. Priscilla is a holder of a Master of Arts degree in Development Studies which she obtained in Chancellor College in 2018. She also holds a bachelor of Arts in Education from Mzuzu University with English as her Major subject.
Priscilla who is also a senior teacher, holds different portfolios such as examination officer, sports coordinator as well as stores clerk. As a teacher, Priscilla belongs to Teachers Union of Malawi where she also serves as a youth national Chairperson. By virtue of being a teacher, she also chairs the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions youth Department.
Priscilla finds fulfilment of her work when she sees the students who have gone through her teaching progressing in life, specifically if they are selected to continue with their education in Universities and colleges. Some of the students that Priscilla has groomed have made it to universities like College of Medicine, Chancellor College and Mzuzu universities. Some are progressing up to Masters level.
Miss Hazvineyi Koroka Nettleton Junior School, Harare
Ms. Koroka is in her early 30’s.She trained as a primary school teacher, having completed a diploma in teaching at Morgen Zintec Teachers’ College in 2002. She started teaching Grade 1 students at Mbare Primary School in Harare soon after finishing college. Currently she is a Grade 1 teacher at Nettleton Junior School. She loves teaching and she believes it is her vocation. In fact, she was attracted to the teaching profession because back in her high school days, when teaching was still a noble profession and many young people aspired to be like their teachers who well respected in the community.
To attract, recruit and keep young people in the teaching profession, there is need for Government to restore the lost status of teaching as a noble profession by addressing remuneration and conditions of living for teachers. Currently, it is lowly paid and teachers are struggling to make ends meet (As a young profession, I feel shortchanged by the system in that I cannot afford to meet Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from the below poverty datum line salary I am earning. What more of self-actualizing?) To cap it all, society generally looks down upon teachers to the extent that even our learners do not aspire to be teachers when they grow up when we do career guidance sessions!