- TSC has organised activities including a teachers’ run, medical services, awards, tree planting and an open day to mark World Teachers’ Day on October 5.
- Genuine appreciation for teachers must extend beyond celebrations to fair pay, manageable workloads and career growth opportunities.
- The government, unions and society have been urged to work together to make teaching a profession young people aspire to join and remain in
As Kenya prepares to mark World Teachers’ Day on October 5, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has lined up several activities to recognise and celebrate teachers, including a teachers’ run, medical services, recognition of awardees, tree planting and an open day.
These are welcome initiatives. Teachers deserve to be recognised and appreciated for the important work they do. But the occasion also invites a bigger question: what does it really mean to celebrate a teacher? Is appreciation limited to a colourful event, awards and speeches, or should it also be reflected in how teachers are treated throughout their careers?
A Profession That Shapes Every Profession
Few professions have an influence that reaches as deeply into society as teaching. Before a doctor treats a patient, an engineer designs a bridge, a lawyer argues a case or an entrepreneur builds a business, there is often a teacher somewhere in the story.
Teachers do much more than deliver the curriculum. They encourage learners who have lost confidence, identify talents, provide guidance, nurture discipline and sometimes become the trusted adult a child turns to when life becomes difficult. Their influence is not always immediately visible; sometimes it takes years before the fruits of their work become evident. That is why celebrating teachers should mean more than simply saying thank you. It should also mean creating an environment where they can work with dignity, motivation and professional pride.
Kenya also needs an honest conversation about the attractiveness of teaching to young people. Ask some learners today whether they would like to become teachers, and the answers may be revealing. While many continue to admire the profession, others may hesitate, and we should listen to them. Young people observe the lives of their teachers. They see the workload, assessment demands, administrative responsibilities and expectations placed on educators. They also hear discussions about remuneration, promotions, working conditions and retirement.
This does not mean that teaching has lost its dignity. Rather, it reminds us that if Kenya wants talented young people to enter and remain in the profession, teaching must offer a career path that inspires confidence. The challenge is not unique to Kenya. UNESCO’s Global Report on Teachers projects a global shortage of 44 million primary and secondary teachers by 2030 and identifies teacher attraction and retention among the challenges requiring attention. Kenya cannot afford to take its teachers for granted.
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Pay Is Also Part of Appreciation
Teachers are often reminded that teaching is a calling. Indeed, it requires commitment, patience and a genuine interest in the development of young people. But a calling does not make teachers immune to the realities of life. Teachers have families to support, children to educate, medical needs, housing costs and retirement plans. Professional dedication and fair remuneration should therefore not be presented as competing ideas.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its Education at a Glance 2025 report, notes that salaries and working conditions are important in attracting and retaining teachers. Across OECD countries, teachers’ actual salaries average between 83 and 91 per cent of the earnings of tertiary-educated workers, depending on the level taught. Kenya’s circumstances are different from those of OECD countries, so these figures should not be treated as a direct salary comparison. They nevertheless demonstrate a broader principle: how society rewards and supports teachers matters to the attractiveness of teaching as a career.
Appreciation is therefore not simply about a certificate or public applause once a year. It is also about enabling teachers to build dignified and sustainable careers. TSC deserves credit for creating opportunities to recognise teachers and celebrate their contribution, but the most meaningful celebration happens beyond the podium. It is reflected when a teacher receives fair consideration for promotion, in opportunities for professional development and career growth, in manageable workloads and adequate teaching resources, in access to healthcare and psychosocial support, and in remuneration and career progression that give teachers confidence about both their present and future.
Unions, Society and a Celebration That Should Outlast October 5
World Teachers’ Day can also provide an opportunity to reflect on the role of teachers’ unions. Collective bargaining gives unions an important platform to articulate teachers’ concerns, and that responsibility extends beyond salaries to workload, career progression, professional development and welfare. Government, TSC and unions may disagree from time to time, as happens in any employment relationship, but constructive dialogue should remain possible, with the shared interest of a strong teaching profession and quality education kept in view.
Society also has a responsibility. Parents can appreciate teachers. School communities can recognise those who go beyond their normal duties. Former students can remember the educators who shaped their lives. Sometimes the greatest reward for a teacher comes years later, when a former student returns and says, “You believed in me when I did not believe in myself.” Such moments remind teachers that their work has meaning beyond the classroom.
Perhaps the activities planned for World Teachers’ Day can become symbols of a much larger commitment. Let the teachers’ run represent the long journey teachers undertake every day. Let tree planting represent the generations they nurture, often without immediately seeing the fruits of their labour. Let the awards remind us that good work deserves recognition. Let the medical services remind us that those who care for our children also need to be cared for. And let the open day create space for meaningful conversations about the future of the profession.
When teachers retire, many leave with memories of learners whose lives they touched. They may not remember every lesson they taught, but they remember the young people who struggled, persevered and eventually succeeded. That is one of the quiet rewards of teaching.
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As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day, let us applaud our teachers sincerely and recognise their sacrifices. But let us also look beyond the celebrations. If we truly value teachers, we must make teaching a profession that young people aspire to join, one that serving teachers are proud to remain in, and one from which retirees can walk away knowing that their years of service were respected and valued. Teachers have faithfully played their part in preparing the next generation. The responsibility to make their profession stronger now belongs to all of us.
Happy World Teachers’ Day to every teacher who continues, often quietly and without fanfare, to shape the future of our nation.
By Astiba Kebong’o
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