- World Teachers’ Day should extend beyond flowers and tributes to include sustained investment in teacher welfare, career progression and working conditions.
- Concerns over teacher shortages, promotions, deployment and working conditions should be evidence that recognition must translate into funded, measurable interventions.
- All stakeholders should share responsibility for teacher wellbeing. Appreciation should be an ongoing commitment rather than a single annual celebration.
On October 5, teachers across the world will once again take centre stage as the global community marks World Teachers’ Day. There will be messages of appreciation, cards, flowers, speeches and warm tributes to those who have dedicated their lives to educating the next generation. It is a day worth celebrating. But perhaps it should also be a day of reflection. For a profession that shapes virtually every other profession, are we doing enough to recognise and support the people who choose to teach?
Teaching is often described as a noble profession. Yet behind that familiar description is a demanding responsibility that is not always fully appreciated. A teacher walks into a classroom carrying much more than a lesson plan. There are academic expectations, discipline concerns, individual learner needs, administrative responsibilities and, increasingly, the emotional and social challenges confronting young people. The teacher is expected to teach, mentor, counsel, motivate, assess, guide and, at times, provide reassurance when a learner is struggling with circumstances beyond the classroom. This is the less visible side of teaching, and perhaps it explains why some of the most meaningful recognition teachers receive comes long after learners have left school.
Personally, I have often been touched by messages from former learners on Teachers’ Day. Some send flowers. Others send beautifully worded messages recalling lessons, advice or encouragement they received years ago. For a teacher, such a message can be profoundly rewarding. The learner may have forgotten a particular examination question, but remembered the teacher who believed in her. The details of a lesson may have faded, but the confidence instilled by a teacher may have endured. That is the enduring power of education.
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Psychologist Albert Bandura’s work on social learning emphasised the importance of observation and modelling in human development. Children and young people learn not only from what adults tell them but also from what they see adults do. This makes the teacher’s influence considerably wider than the curriculum. A teacher is, in many respects, a living lesson. The manner in which a teacher handles disappointment, treats others, responds to failure and pursues excellence can leave an impression on a learner long after the classroom experience is over. That is why teacher recognition must go beyond a single day of celebration.
Kenya has made significant strides in expanding access to education, implementing curriculum reforms and investing in the teaching workforce. However, the question of teacher welfare remains a matter that deserves sustained national attention. Parliament has, on several occasions, raised concerns surrounding teacher shortages, career progression, promotions, deployment and working conditions. These concerns are important because the quality of an education system cannot be divorced from the circumstances in which teachers work. The Teachers Service Commission, as the employer of teachers, has a particularly important role to play.
Teacher recognition should include fair and transparent career progression, continuous professional development, adequate staffing and a working environment that safeguards professional dignity. Teachers serving in challenging circumstances also deserve meaningful support and recognition. Professional development should not merely be about accumulating certificates; it should equip teachers to respond to the realities of contemporary classrooms, including changing learner needs, technology, assessment demands and the social pressures affecting young people.
Equally important is teacher wellbeing. We cannot continually ask teachers to give more while paying insufficient attention to the people behind the profession. Teachers have families, aspirations, financial responsibilities and personal struggles. They need an employer and a society that understand that professional commitment does not make them immune to human challenges. This is where government must demonstrate that teacher welfare is not an afterthought.
Countries that aspire to strong education systems must treat teachers as an investment rather than a recurrent cost. The global conversation on education increasingly recognises that teacher shortages, poor working conditions and declining professional attractiveness pose serious threats to the future of learning. Kenya should not be an exception. Parliament, too, has an important role beyond raising concerns. Recommendations on teacher welfare, staffing and career progression should translate into adequately funded and measurable interventions. There is little value in repeatedly acknowledging the same challenges if the classroom experience remains unchanged.
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Parents and communities must also accept their share of responsibility. Education is a partnership. A teacher cannot single-handedly raise a responsible, disciplined and academically successful child. Parents provide the foundation; teachers build upon it; society provides the environment in which that child eventually becomes an adult. Blaming teachers whenever schools encounter difficulties is therefore neither fair nor constructive.
Learners themselves are also central to the culture of appreciation. A learner does not need an expensive gift to honour a teacher. Respect, discipline, commitment to learning and a willingness to improve are among the greatest gifts a teacher can receive. Former learners can go further. They can return to their schools, mentor younger students, support educational programmes or simply reach out to a teacher who once made a difference in their lives. Sometimes a simple message is enough.
It is remarkable how a teacher’s influence can travel through generations. A learner leaves school, enters university or the workplace, starts a family and becomes a responsible member of society. Somewhere along that journey is a lesson, a correction, an encouragement or a word of hope from a teacher. The Bible captures this enduring influence in Daniel 12:3: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” There is something fitting about this imagery. Teachers may not always witness the full harvest of what they sow. Their greatest achievements may never appear on a certificate or in an appraisal report. Sometimes the reward comes years later, in the success of a former learner or in an unexpected message saying, “You made a difference.”
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That is why World Teachers’ Day should not merely be about celebrating teachers for a few hours. It should challenge us to examine how we treat them throughout the year. Let TSC strengthen professional growth and teacher welfare. Let government provide adequate resources for education. Let Parliament ensure that legitimate concerns raised about teachers receive meaningful follow-through. Let school communities restore mutual respect between teachers, parents and learners. And let society remember that the teacher is not simply an employee of the education system. The teacher is one of the people entrusted with shaping the character, knowledge and aspirations of the next generation.
Flowers are welcome. Messages are cherished. Recognition is important. But lasting appreciation requires more. It requires dignity, professional respect, fair opportunities, adequate resources and a working environment in which teachers can give their best without being constantly stretched beyond their limits.
On October 5, therefore, let us celebrate the teacher. But when the flowers have faded and the messages have stopped, let the appreciation continue in the policies we make, the resources we provide, the respect we show and the conditions in which teachers work. Because every society eventually becomes a reflection of what its teachers were enabled to teach, and what it chose to value. To appreciate the teacher is, ultimately, to invest in the society we hope to become.
By Astiba Kebongo
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