The education system in many countries, the Philippines included, is
facing a major problem that’s bigger than the shortage of teachers. It
is the chronic lack of trained teachers.
In a policy paper that will be published tomorrow to mark World
Teachers’ Day (WTD) 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) showed that “chronic lack of trained
teachers” remains a challenge in achieving the Education For All (EFA)
goals. “Without action, it will be impossible to get all children into
school by 2030.”
UNESCO said that in the rush to fill the “chronic, global shortage of
teachers,” many countries – including the Philippines – are
“sacrificing standards and undermining progress by hiring people with
little or no training.”
The new policy paper is prepared by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics
(UIS) and the EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR). It pointed out that
“at least 93 countries have an acute teacher shortage.” Thus, there is a
“need to recruit some four million teachers to achieve universal
primary education by 2015.”
Pressured to fill gaps, UNESCO said many countries are recruiting
teachers “who lack the most basic training.” In one-third of countries
with data, the study also showed that “fewer than 75 percent of primary
school teachers were trained according to national standards in 2012.”
According to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, “a quality
universal primary education will remain a distant dream for millions of
children living in countries without enough trained teachers in
classrooms.” She added that teachers are the core of any “education
system” and “hiring and training new and already established teachers is
fundamental to protecting children’s ability to learn in school.”
If the deadline of the EFA goal is extended to 2030, there is a need
to hire “more than 27 million teachers,” and 24 million of them will be
required to “compensate for natural attrition.” However, at present
rates, 28 (or 30 percent) of these 93 countries are found incapable of
meeting these needs, UNESCO said.
Kate Redman, UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report Communications and
Advocacy Specialist, told the Manila Bulletin that the Philippines is
among the countries that lack trained teachers.
“In the Philippines, like in many other countries of the region, the lack of trained teachers, especially in critical early grades and in disadvantaged areas remains a problem,” Redman said.
