Every Child Needs a Teacher I

...It calls for everyone to answer!

Courtesy: UNESCO.org

The world needs 6.8 million more teachers to provide basic primary education and every child in the world has the right to a quality education...  a statement that takes us off our comfort zone! statement? Education for All aka EFA is a global endeavor to fulfill the basic right to education and the Global Action Week (GAW) is one way through which the idea of EFA is spread across the world. Organizations come together to create awareness through varied activities, according to their capacities. The world is facing a great challenge of teacher shortage. Moreover the presence of quality trained teachers is a must to deliver quality education. Thus the theme for GAW 2013 stands: Every Child needs a teacher.  Teachers and their crucial role for quality education are in the spotlight for 2013.  21^st April to 27^th April 2013 is designated as the GAW for this year.  GAW is an annual event organized by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) and supported by UNESCO.

Believe it or not, 114 countries out of 208 countries need to increase their teaching faculty by 2015 in order to afford basic primary education. And the most saddening fact is that every year many teachers are leaving for greener pastures due to multitude of reasons. UNESCO figures predict that 5.1 million current teachers would leave the profession by 2015, owing to many causes. This invites yet another challenge of attracting, developing and retaining qualified teachers. Teacher gender is another global concern and a study proved that enrollment of girls is high in secondary schools where female teacher proportions were adequate in primary schools. A statement on EFA even stated that the best teachers should teach in early grades. The importance of good primary education is always prominent. There is more in the arsenal of concerns and facts. It is also vital for teachers to be trained to respond to the 21^st century challenges. Teachers are great agents of social change. The GCE believes that teachers need to be supported and respected in the society. There is a dire need to improve and protect the working conditions of teachers. The sub Saharan region is the worst affected area under teacher gap.

Teachers… and yes qualified gender sensitive teachers are key factors to get children into schools and keeping them in schools. According to UNESCO statistics, 61 million school going aged children are denied their right to education due to the huge deficit of teachers. Girls account to the higher ratio. Worst, it is disheartening to learn that some children in the poorest countries spend many years in school but not being able to read or write a single word. This issue brings us to the training of teachers. We got to have qualified teachers in the field. Overcrowded classrooms, poor equipped classrooms, social outlook, salary and hundreds of other reasons all pull us down from achieving a universal goal. Surveys revealed that teachers take up extra jobs to supplement their salary.

Bhutan is not an alien to these problems. Many school going age children are not in schools, especially in rural areas. The shortage of teachers is also visible in Bhutanese classrooms. We are also experiencing teachers leaving the profession based on many reasons. Our teaching society is under threat. There is a talk in town on decline in quality of education, be it real or rumored. The outlook on education has improved in the recent years but we still have many hurdles to cross. Our education system is proactive yet there are multitudes of issues ranging from teacher distribution to curriculum implementation. Graduates take up teaching as their last option in terms of career choice. Professional development of teachers is another area of concern. In the recent transition to democracy, we saw many teachers leaving their schools. Every year we lose many teachers, trained and qualified ones. So the global concern is directly a local hurdle too. Schools are constructed across the nation but Bhutan is facing an immense challenge of providing basic education. The Bhutanese populace is fortunate as the government provides free education to every citizen, with the highest priority. This is always a green signal and we can achieve EFA one day in the near future. All we need is the common understanding amongst people from all walks of life.

The great shortage of teachers and the global scenario of children who are denied their basic right is a global challenge. Therefore the wise GAW is on the go to create awareness so that we fight a common test. GAW is bringing the world together to show the importance of a qualified teacher to provide primary education and the various issues faced by teachers and children across the globe to achieve one common goal of Education for All.  Let us take some time and offer our modest efforts to overcome these challenges- to make the world a better place… after all Education is the only tool we have- to create a healthy world.

In the words of the campaign: “Without teachers a school is just a building”.

Every Child Needs a Teacher II : Global Action Week in Samtengang Middle Secondary School

As observed by UNESCO club…

Realizing the need to act and with many goals set, the UNESCO club of Samtengang participated in the Global Action Week (GAW) 2013. We started off with a comprehensive information dissemination activity where the club read, discussed and learnt the global scenarios, issues and statistics. The silence of realization at the end of this meeting was what made us to feel deeply and commit ourselves to react. So we planned on observing GAW in our own small ways. 

Our immediate decision was to put up an awareness show. We discussed thoroughly on the activity and targeted to achieve a huge list of objectives. We wanted the school to know the ground facts pertaining to teacher shortage, right to education, world statistics and teacher issues. Even more, we wanted to let it be widely seen and understood and more… So we started working day in and out to put up the show. Books referred, poems composed, quotations quoted, drawings created and everything was done to reach out our voice. To work closely in line with the theme and to fulfill our aims, we divided the activity under four broad categories- Importance of Teachers, Benefits of Education, Attracting, Developing and Retaining Teachers and General Global Information on Education for All and right to education. Groups were formed under each category and each specialized group went all over to get facts, figures and compose words of inspiration.

After much struggle and dedication, we put up the show in the Biology lab of the school on 25^th April. It was a dream come true for the club. The show opened with warm acceptance and participation from the students and staff of the school. Satisfied and proud was what went through us.

Literacy Status Appraisal in Samtengang community was our main event for GAW. This activity required more time and resources. We dedicated much effort towards conducting the appraisal which would give us facts and figures that would enable us to sensitize on the global theme of Education for All (EFA). The appraisal was conducted among the households of Nyisho and Gyelakha village, aimed to figure out the literacy status of the community along with their knowledge on teaching profession and other educational aspects. Through the appraisal we aim to bring out a comprehensive literacy status so that we can create awareness campaigns on EFA. Through the appraisal we aspired to:

1.      Collect figures on literacy level in the community

2.      Gather reasons for dropping schools or not being in school

3.      Find out the status of teaching profession in the community

4.      Figure out people’s knowledge on child right and quality education

5.      Analyze and use the information to create awareness on EFA, right for education and teacher importance/gap

With positive intentions, the club packed their lunch, carried the survey forms and embarked on a noble cause,  to collect the data. We went to each household and explained our mission in depth and detail. The students did a great job in collecting the information. Our voice was heard loud and clear. The villagers cooperated with us and participated actively. Some even offered tea and snacks to us. Many agreed to the global facts and issues. We could see their understandings through the responses. Few regretted for dropping schools and a lot of them decided to send their children to school when they attain the right age. From the study we learnt that very few people in the villages know about child rights and teacher profession. They had no/very less idea on quality of education, student teacher ratio etc. These revelations made us to commit more. Definitely, we will compile and analyze the data. We are still working on it and once we are through with the report, we are planning to go back to the villages once more. This time, backed by facts and figures, we hope to do more. School dropout and importance of teachers to deliver quality education are two grounds on which we would raise awareness.  With all these wonderful findings, dusk showed us the time to return to our stations…

Satisfied and committed to do more!

Every Child Needs a Teacher III : Contributing through our modest capabilities

The Noble activity on the go...

Road to NC 2013 in Zamding Polling Station

Randomlization...