Teachers’ Day 2019

Who shapes the person you are the most? Parents or other family members are probably at the top of the list for many people. But a close second place is very likely to go to a teacher. Some of the most influential and successful people in the world have a teacher in their childhood to thank for their success.

Can you imagine life without the personal computer? Well, without two of Bill Gates’s high school teachers, that could be our world today. Gates’s maths teacher, Fred Wright, asked him to push himself just a little bit harder. Or his drama teacher, Anne Stephens, who helped him overcome his shyness when she made him one of the the stars of the school play. And there arethousands of stories like this.

In many conferences and talks Bill Gates has delivered, he thanked his teachers, saying, ‘There’s no way there would be a Microsoft without them doing what they did.’

So we are here today to celebrate teachers as the most influential people in everybody’s lifeand teaching as one of the main pillars of society. Most importantly we are here to remind the world that education is a basic human right and that every child should have access to quality education.

UNESCO hopes to train 69 million new teachers by 2030 so that everyone can go to school, because, sadly, 264 million children in the world today are not in school because there aren’t enough teachers. Those children are often in places where life is already very difficult as they live in poor areas or far away from cities and towns, or they are escaping war and famine in their own countries.

Last but not least, I want today to be a “Thank you Day.” One day, you’ll probably look back at your life, your successes, the dreams you’ve made come true or the difficult things you’ve survived. The chances are high that you’ll find that a teacher’s words have helped you achieve these things. Perhaps you already know who that teacher will be. Why not find them and say thank you today on Teachers’ Day?

Mariana Van Houtte. Primary Head

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