Madam Corr-Jack who was speaking on Saturday at the GTU Secretariat during the commemoration of Word Teachers’ Day added that teachers deserve more than just our gratitude. “They deserve our full support,” she said.
According to her, government should not let teachers and students pay the cost of the crisis, adding that we must protect our education systems from current financial pressures and budgetary constraints.
The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Teachers: Leading in Crisis, Reimagining the Future.’
She pointed out that the education sector remains one of the worse hit by the coronavirus outbreak leading to widespread closure of schools. “It created serious disruptions on academic activities, as well as in career plans.”
She said over 700,000 children are out-of-school, thus exposing them to multitudes of risks and vulnerabilities.
The day provides the occasion to celebrate the teaching profession worldwide, take stock of the achievements and draw attention to the voices of teachers who are the heart of efforts to attain the global education target of leaving no one behind.
She highlighted that investing in teachers is a wise investment in the efforts to build strong economies, cohesive societies and a future of dignity and opportunity for all.
GS Corr-Jack reiterated GTU’s commitment to working progressively with all stakeholders to ensure that the aspirations of teachers become a reality. She further said that they aspire that every child must have well-motivated, well qualified and professional teachers.
She described teachers’ leadership concerning crisis response as not just timely, but critical in terms of the contributions they made and continue to make to provide distance learning and ensure that the learning gaps are mitigated.
She said if education is the most important instrument for harnessing human potential, then teachers are the key to operationalising that instrument, ensuring that our youthful population develop the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and competencies required for achieving agenda 2063.
She thanked the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for their relentless effort and space accorded to them to share their input in the process of managing education during the crisis.
