World Teachers’ Day 2024, held every year on 5 October, is an opportunity to celebrate all the incredible teachers dedicated to supporting children and young people for future success in all aspects of life. This is a day to acknowledge the contribution that teachers make in our lives, and to our schools and communities, but also the challenges they face globally.
A day to recognise and appreciate teachers
For Carolina, a local community-based pre-school teacher in Lautem municipality, Timor-Leste, World Teachers’ Day is a chance to stop and reflect on the important role of teachers around the world. It is time to show gratitude and appreciation for their hard work and dedication to children’s education.
“World Teachers’ Day is very special to us because it shows that all the communities are appreciating, recognising, and valuing our dedication, efforts, and hard work to support children to have a better future and for Timor-Leste to have a bright future,” she says.
“Teachers are the foundation for learning and education.”
Carolina, preschool teacher, Timor-Leste
Carolina teaching a student the alphabet in Lautem municipality, Timor-Leste.
Teaching is something that has always been close to Carolina’s heart. Ever since she was a little girl all she ever wanted was to be a teacher because it meant that she could share her knowledge to help educate children and set them up for future success. After all, without teachers there would be no other profession!
“Teachers are the foundation for learning and education,” she says. “Without teachers, many people would not have work or careers.”
Her message for World Teachers’ Day – to all the teachers – is very simple: “Please continue to stay committed and patient when teaching children. Children are very smart. We must treat children equally. Do not discriminate against children based on their skin colour, race, religion and gender, we need to embrace them all and work together with them.”
When is World Teachers’ Day?
World Teacher’s Day 2024 will be held on Saturday 5 October.
What is World Teachers’ Day about?
In 1994, UNESCO establishedWorld Teachers’ Daywith the aim to celebrate the advance in teachers’ rights made in recent decades.
In 1966, an intergovernmental conference in Paris adopted the UNESCO/ILO (International Labour Organisation)Recommendation about the Status of Teachers. This recommendation sets out not only the responsibilities and rights of teachers, but also international standards for teachers’ initial preparation, further education, employment, recruitment, and learning and teaching conditions.
This year’s focus underscores the urgency of calling for and attending to teachers’ voices to address their challenges but, most importantly, to acknowledge and benefit from the expert knowledge and input that they bring to education.
What does this mean? Teachers are instrumental in preparing future generations; they help teach important lessons and life skills that can make the world of difference down the track. However, there is severe lack of respect for the profession, which is extremely challenging in and of itself. Currently, low pay, burnout, inadequate classroom resources and insufficient support and recognition are all contributing to a concerning shortage of teachers globally.
It is critical that we acknowledge the expert knowledge and input that teachers’ bring to education, and see their role in helping us to create a better future for us all. Integrating their perspectives into educational policies and fostering a supportive environment for their professional development is key. We must better value, better train and better support teachers if we are to achieve the goal of providing primary and secondary education for all by 2030.
How can you help support teachers and celebrate this World Teachers’ Day?
A donation to our girls’ education appeal can also make a huge difference for thousands of girls and their families and communities. You can help girls go to school and learn, give local teachers training and support, improve classrooms, and build school playgrounds and toilets.
Alternatively, you can donate World Teachers’ Day-themed gifts from Gifts for Good range. World Teachers’ Day gifts include a school supplies set, or a bright future bundle can provide a child with everything they need to attend and participate in school.
You can also spread the word about World Teachers’ Day in Australia and worldwide on social media. Use #worldteachersday to raise awareness and encourage family and friends to participate too.
Three years since the transition of political power to the Taliban, the economic situation for children, families and communities has continued to deteriorate across Afghanistan.
According to the United Nations, in 2024, 23.7 million people – more than half of the country’s population – will need humanitarian assistance. In addition, 65 percent of families reported directly experiencing an economic shock, a 20 percent increase compared to 2022.
Life in Afghanistan has been marked by decades of insecurity and conflict, recurrent disasters, entrenched poverty and escalating climate-induced crises. As a result there are a multitude of factors that contribute to increasing the vulnerability of children, families and communities, including:
Economic crisis
The political transition in August 2021 exacerbated underlying fragilities that are limiting livelihood opportunities in both urban and rural communities.
Climate-induced crises
After a third consecutive year of drought-like conditions alongside rising temperatures, precipitation patterns have altered across the country, diminishing people’s access to water and damaging food supplies.
Recurrent earthquakes
Lying on multiple fault lines, Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to multiple earthquakes. In 2023, nearly 400 earthquakes hit the country, including three 6.3 magnitude shocks within eight days in Herat Province that destroyed 40,000 homes and left 275,000 people in need of urgent support.
Restrictions on rights of women and girls
Barriers to women and girls’ participation in public life resulted in significant setbacks in their access to education and employment with many subjected to forced marriage and other forms of gender-based violence.
The country is in crisis. But, above all, it is a child rights crisis.
Afghanistan has one of the highest youth populations in the world, and almost 8 million children – one in three – face crisis levels of hunger. Just to put food on the table, parents are forced to let their children engage in hazardous labour and early marriage.
For women, especially those at the head of their families, rising hunger as well as ongoing restrictions on their rights and participation in public life has left them struggling to meet their own and their families’ basic needs. Under Taliban rule, women are left without the right to work or leave the house independently, and are becoming even more vulnerable and often forced to resort to emergency coping mechanisms.
Zabeeda, lives with her five children and sick husband in rural Afghanistan, and despite working everyday as a cleaner in people’s homes, she barely makes enough money to purchase bread. Out of desperation, she was forced to sell one of her children, Farshad. At the time, it was thought as the only way to save the rest of the family from desperate hunger.
After joining ChildFund’s Cash for Food program, Zabeeda could buy food, clothes for children and medicine for her husband.
“They gave us money with which I bought food (oil, rice, and pulses) and clothes for my children. I bought medicine for my husband. Our living conditions have thankfully improved. I feel many changes,” she said.
The Power of Cash during Humanitarian Emergencies
Much like the cash we use in our everyday lives, the provision of cash assistance after crises is a dignified and effective form of humanitarian assistance. Cash empowers people by giving them the opportunity to determine how to meet their most pressing needs while also fueling the local economy.
ChildFund and our partners, WeWorld and the Rural Rehabilitation Association for Afghanistan (RRAA), are supporting families to access lifesaving food supplies and other essential items through cash transfers. For women-headed households, this type of assistance plays a critical role in helping them fulfill their family’s needs and build a future.
How ChildFund is supporting women-headed households in Afghanistan with cash assistance?
Aziz was widowed four years ago. Since then, growing economic insecurity, and recurrent natural disasters left her struggling to feed her four children. Her youngest daughter become acutely malnourished leaving Aziz fearing for her health and wellbeing.
“I have been through a lot of challenges after my husband died. After he passed, there was not any income to feed the children and respond to our needs,” she said.
“Due to there not being enough food available, my small daughter became malnourished, and I was forced to borrow money from my neighbours and relatives to treat my daughter”.
Each day Aziz would go house to house baking bread, and at night she would tailor clothes as her children slept. But however hard she worked it was never enough.
“During the night, I was tailoring for people, and during the day I was going out around the village to baking bread as labour to earn something to feed my children.”
Aziz’s family was one of 500 families who were provided with cash assistance to help them meet their most pressing needs in the wake of growing economic crisis and increasing food and water scarcity.
“[The cash] helped me a lot to provide food three times during the day, provide clothes, and education materials for my children, and treat them when they faced sickness. It has made my life better.”
While restrictive policies continue to hinder women’s ability to engage in economic activities, and their access to services and assistance, it is critical to support families like Aziz’s to purchase lifesaving essential items.
