On October 5 of every year, the international community celebrates the World Teachers’ Day. This year’s celebration is held under the theme, “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”, and aims to shed light on the challenges facing teachers and propose future visions for improving their performance to ensure the quality of education and improve its systems. 

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) avails itself of this opportunity to reaffirm the key roles of teachers as the backbone of the educational system, stressing the need to rehabilitate the teaching profession, exert serious efforts to increase its appeal and prioritize teachers in all endeavors aiming at transforming education in the manner we want.

In addition, ICESCO stresses that the true path to transforming education is primarily founded on competent teachers who are able to nurture learners’ faculties. The Organization acknowledges that this path faces a myriad of challenges, notably the unprecedented teacher shortage at the global level, as a result of the fading appeal of teaching as profession among young people, the lack of adequate training, and teachers’ declining working conditions, increasing burdens and worsening situations.

Against this backdrop, ICESCO calls for working towards training the necessary numbers of competent teachers who are passionate about the profession, providing the necessary incentives to motivate them, recognizing and appreciating their efforts, and supporting them with the aim to improve educational systems across the globe, as per the outputs of the Transforming Education Summit.