As the world commemorates World Teachers’ Day on 5 October 2026 under the theme “Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures,” there is a compelling reason to reflect on what it truly means to stand with teachers. This year marks 60 years since the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, a landmark framework recognising teaching as a profession deserving appropriate preparation, fair treatment, decent working conditions, professional development and respect.
Six decades later, however, the teaching profession stands at a critical crossroads. Teachers remain the backbone of every education system, yet many countries continue to face teacher shortages, inadequate remuneration, heavy workloads, limited professional development and declining professional attractiveness. The challenge, therefore, is not simply to recruit more teachers, but to create conditions that make teaching a respected, rewarding and sustainable profession in which qualified teachers want to enter, remain and grow.
The global teacher shortage demonstrates the seriousness of the challenge. The world is projected to require approximately 44 million additional teachers by 2030, with Sub-Saharan Africa carrying a particularly significant share of the burden. Rapid population growth, expanding demand for education, limited financing and difficult working conditions continue to place pressure on education systems. At the same time, teacher attrition is increasing, meaning that countries are not only struggling to recruit teachers but also to retain those already in the profession.
For Uganda, these challenges are particularly urgent. Although the country has expanded access to education considerably, enrolment growth has placed enormous pressure on the teaching workforce. National pupil-teacher ratios remain high, while some regions face far more severe shortages. In some schools, teachers are responsible for exceptionally large numbers of learners, making effective classroom management, assessment, individualised attention and meaningful learning increasingly difficult.
The situation becomes even more concerning when qualified teachers remain unemployed or underemployed while schools continue to experience shortages. This points to the need for better alignment between teacher training, workforce planning, recruitment, deployment and public financing. Producing teachers without creating sufficient opportunities for them to serve represents not only a missed opportunity but also an inefficient use of national resources.
Yet solving the teacher shortage cannot be reduced to increasing numbers. We must also restore the status of teaching. Standing with teachers means recognising them as professionals, knowledge producers, innovators and partners in shaping education policy. Teachers should not merely be viewed as implementers of decisions made elsewhere. Their daily experience with learners, families and communities gives them valuable knowledge that should inform education policy and reform.
Restoring the status of teaching requires attention to professional recognition, career development and working conditions. Teachers need meaningful opportunities for continuous professional development through mentoring, coaching, peer learning, reflective practice and access to relevant research. They need clear career pathways and opportunities to advance without necessarily leaving classroom teaching. Professional excellence should be recognised and rewarded.
At the same time, professional expectations must be matched by professional support. Calls for stronger teacher qualifications, including degree-level preparation, should be accompanied by investment in teacher education, scholarships, professional development and employment opportunities. Raising standards without providing the resources necessary to meet them would place an unfair burden on teachers.
Material conditions are equally important. Teachers cannot be expected to deliver quality education in overcrowded classrooms with inadequate teaching materials, limited infrastructure and excessive workloads. Competitive salaries matter, but so do non-monetary incentives such as supportive school leadership, career progression, recognition, decent working environments and opportunities for professional growth.
Teacher well-being must also become a policy priority. Today’s teacher is often expected to be an instructor, assessor, counsellor, mentor, administrator and community mobiliser. When these responsibilities are combined with large classes and limited resources, professional exhaustion becomes a serious concern. Education systems must therefore pay greater attention to workload management, supportive leadership, professional autonomy and teachers’ welfare.
School leaders have an important role in creating environments in which teachers can thrive. Effective headteachers should provide instructional support, recognise good performance, encourage collaboration, promote fairness and involve teachers in decisions affecting their professional lives. A supportive school culture can strengthen teacher motivation, commitment and retention.
Gender equity should also remain central to efforts to strengthen the profession. Women constitute a substantial proportion of the teaching workforce, particularly in primary education, yet gender inequalities can affect leadership opportunities, workplace safety and career progression. Strengthening the profession must therefore include safe and inclusive working environments and equitable opportunities for women and men to advance into educational leadership.
Ultimately, none of these ambitions can be achieved without adequate and sustained financing. Governments cannot expect education systems to transform societies while underinvesting in the teachers who make those systems function. Increased education financing must be accompanied by transparency, accountability and strategic workforce planning so that resources reach classrooms and teachers where they are most needed. International partners also have a responsibility to support countries facing severe fiscal constraints to sustain investment in education.
For Uganda, teacher workforce planning should be based on reliable data on enrolment, population growth, workload and regional disparities. Hard-to-reach and underserved communities require particular attention so that a child’s access to a qualified and supported teacher is not determined by geography.
The 60th anniversary of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation should therefore be more than a commemoration. It should be a moment of renewed commitment. The world has changed significantly since 1966, but one principle remains constant: quality education depends on quality teachers, and quality teachers require systems that value, support and respect them.
Standing with teachers means more than applauding them once a year. It means investing in their professional development, protecting their dignity, improving their working conditions, listening to their voices and ensuring that education budgets reflect the importance of their work.
On this World Teachers’ Day, let us therefore move beyond appreciation to action. If we want better schools, we must support better conditions for teachers. If we want stronger communities, we must strengthen the profession that educates them. And if we want a better future, we must stand firmly with the teachers who are shaping it today.
Written by Moses wawah Onapa
The writer is a senior educationist, social commentator
