According to the findings of a recent study conducted by UN Educational, Scientific, & Cultural Organization (Unesco), there is a critical shortage of 44 million qualified educators or teachers worldwide.
According to the education and culture agency, the percentage of primary school teachers leaving their jobs will increase to 9% in 2022, which is almost twice as high as the rate of 4.6% in 2015.
“Teachers play an crucial role in our societies, yet this profession is facing a major vocations crisis,” said Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of Unesco. In certain areas of the world, there are insufficient applicants. In some areas, the percentage of people who quit their jobs within the first few years of their careers is extremely high. In each scenario, the response is the same: we need to place a higher value on educators, provide them with greater training, and provide them more support.
According to the findings of Unesco’s study, the lack of teachers has decreased from 69 million in 2016 to 7.8 million in 2018, primarily due to progress made in southern Asia, where the gap has been cut by almost half.
In sub-Saharan Africa, which accounted for a third of the worldwide teacher shortfall, the need had only been decreased by 2 million during the same time period. This is despite the fact that sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. To accomplish the sustainable development objective of providing elementary and secondary education to all people in the region by the year 2030, the region will require 15 million more teachers.
According to the findings of the survey, there are problems all around the world, especially in wealthy countries, with teachers having to deal with high levels of stress, lack of supplies, bad leadership, and low incomes.
Because of retirements and “a lack of interest in entering the profession,” it is estimated that 4.8 million additional teachers are required across Europe and North America in order to “secure quality primary and secondary education.”
More than 13,000 schools in portions of central and west Africa have been shut down over the course of the last four years due to insecurity, which has contributed to the closure of schools in those areas.
The war in Burkina Faso has prevented one million students and 31,000 teachers from returning to school, according to Unicef, which stated that a fifth of the country’s schools were shuttered as the academic year began this week.
The representative for Unicef in Burkina Faso, John Agbor, stated that it is “very upsetting” that so many schools are closed and that so many children are still unable to return to school as a result of the violence and insecurity in the country. We need to keep working toward our goal of ensuring that every child in Burkina Faso has access to education and is able to realize their ambitions in an atmosphere free from fear.
