As the world celebrates World Teachers’ Day, Stakeholders in the education sector have urged all interested parties to support the teachers who are co-destiny moulders with parents and God, for them to excel and also experience job satisfaction.
The stakeholders also demanded optimum professionalism from teachers and urged them to believe in themselves and develop the profession to the standard akin to physicians, engineers and lawyers.
The theme for this year’s Teachers’ Day is, “Valuing Teachers’ Voices: Towards a New Social Contract for Education.”
The president, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Lagos State, Chief Alaka Yusuf, stated that government, school owners and other parties should support the teachers in terms of retraining, appreciation and enumeration as teachers play a key role in child and national development.
On his part, an author and educationist, Michael Omisore charged teachers to keep acting the part of professionalism for a fairer chance of weathering the present challenges.
“The theme of this year’s Teachers’ Day buttresses my point that a new social contract should be met with renewed passion and vigour from teachers in committing to do more to positively impact their students’ lives so that teachers’ voices can indeed be more greatly valued.
“Such passion and vigour should be driven by the need to make a difference in one’s space, and in the lives of the students in one’s care, and to beat the bushes in order to chart a career path in the teaching profession despite the economic challenges.
“The harsh economy is hitting the sector like it is hitting other sectors. But the reality is that education remains a huge market with tens of millions of players and stakeholders, and giving value and creating avenues for more unique, relevant and legitimate value will see anyone in the business of education staying afloat,” he said.