Today, all over the world, we commemorate the teachers and shed light on their monumental role in society. It is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally.

Being a teacher provides the unique opportunity to make a transformative and lasting impact on the lives of others, contributing to shaping sustainable futures and offering personal fulfillment. However, the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage worsened by a decline in their working conditions and status. The 2023 celebrations will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda.

COVID-19 threw a new set of problems in front of teachers worldwide, as learning increasingly shifted to online mediums, and teachers and students were ill-prepared to deal with this sudden change. The learnings from that time underscore that in a rapidly changing and unpredictable world teachers need to be better prepared for such unforeseen incidents in the future.

Uganda will mark the celebrations at Kololo independence grounds with H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni gracing the vent as Chief Guest. Currently, there are 347,219 teachers in Uganda, 183,397 of whom are in private schools teaching in 34,000 primary schools, but only 12,400 are public schools, holding eight million learners against three million in private schools according to the Ministry of Education data.

The Total Education Budget at the Central Government Level is UGX1. 882 Trillion, down from UGX1. 964Trillion. Of this amount, only UGX 304 billion is projected to go towards the Ministry of Education and Sport, declining from UGX 471 billion in the 2022/23 Approved budget.

In a world that needs 44 million additional teachers to achieve quality education for all. On WorldTeachersDay & every day, WLEDE calls upon stakeholders beneficiaries and entire public to speak up for teachers by calling for fair salaries and working conditions, policies that protect them; and the autonomy they need to sustainably bring about a change in the profession.