On World Teachers’ Day (2019), UNESCO has adopted the theme: “Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.”

The day provides the occasion to celebrate the teaching profession worldwide, to take stock of achievements and to address some of the issues central for attracting and keeping the brightest minds and young talents in the profession.

According to a new UNESCO Institute for Statistics’ paper, several developing countries are struggling to recruit, retain and train enough teachers to keep up with a large and growing school population. The paper further states that globally, about 263 million children and youths are out of school, including 25 million children of primary-school age. Meanwhile, in developing countries, just about 14% of youths complete upper secondary education; a disheartening percentage.

Teaching, according to some professors, is a conscious behavior that makes learning more probable and efficient such that teachers become and remain architects of all professions. It is estimated that to achieve the goal of universal primary education by 2020, countries will need to recruit a total of 24.4 million primary teachers and 44.4 million secondary teachers over the next 12 years, an important step towards quality education and sustainable society.

Education, a fundamental human right which is indispensable for the achievement of sustainable development requires quality teachers. Quality teachers who per time can transform their students to scientists, doctors, engineers and several noble professions regardless of relatively low income.

The noble profession combined with their qualities should not be ignored nor undermined for they are essential to the achievement of professionalism and sustainable development. Teachers are known to shape the minds of youths, making significant differences in their communities such that lives become more impacted even at limited speed.

While teaching is a special occupation, few do it effectively, playing pivotal roles in the school of transformation. While many are most incompetent, poor teaching of some peculiar subjects have shattered the hopes of many students who could not comprehend the tutorials, hence the need for educated young minds.

The ‘Born Teachers’ insistence on perfection has shaped many lives tremendously, acknowledging their pupils’ needs and addressing them albeit their challenges. Their compelling guidance to obey parents, respect elders, leaders, and to fear God, are golden teachings forever treasured, coupled with the established fact that teachers should show exemplary leadership skills in the upbringing of every child which also emphasizes on another fact that teachers either make or mar the end product of the noble profession.

They play pivotal parental roles and continue to do so even in the lives of their pupils. Taking care of one or two children is never an easy task in homes, let alone a teacher to about 30 pupils or more. It is recognized that teachers are not only a means to implementing educational goals, they also are keys to sustainability and national capacity in achieving learning and creating societies based on knowledge, values and ethics. They however continue to face challenges of poor training, low income and staff shortage.

Added to the challenge of numbers is one quality all too often, teachers are found working without resources or proper training. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the quality of education in many countries is undermined by a deficit of teachers. About 1.4 million teachers are missing in classrooms which are needed to achieve Universal Primary Education, the fourth goal being quality education.

For the future of this noble profession, researches reveal that teacher shortages in sub-Saharan Africa is the highest worldwide, it reveals a growing need of about 17 million teachers to achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030. According to Teachers Registration Council Of Nigeria, Nigeria has just about two million qualified and registered teachers, with recorded statistics that the country will always be in need of 250,000 teachers annually to cater to the growing population of pupils.

While it is noted that some government owned schools can only boast of very few qualified teachers. Statistics reveal that West Africa has a growing need of about 7 million school teachers; unfortunately, Nigeria carries a massive chunk of that number. This is because the country has the largest out of school children, thus the urgent need of large number of qualified teachers.

Global Thematic Consultation on Education states several essentials for supporting teachers’ effectiveness which include: good conditions of employment, appropriate contracts and salaries, prospects for career progression and promotion; good conditions in the work environment, creating school contexts that are conducive for teaching and quality training for teachers.

At this juncture, action calls for international communities, governments and individuals to unite to produce and support teachers who can qualitatively teach and motivate students, especially in countries where the highest numbers of out-of-school children exist, while capacity building is also needful for the enhancement and sustainability of the quality of teachers in line with global best practices of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Teachers have proven to be pupils’ angels and of all very challenging professions, one of the hardest is being a good teacher. Safe to write that if students have not learned then the teachers have not in any way taught, therefore for optimum teaching to take place there is need for teachers to be well trained, equipped and very well paid.

ONYEMAECHI HOPE FOR THE HELPLESS FOUNDATION

Emerged in 2007 to care for the less privileged, give hope to the poor and the helpless, OHHF focuses on good health and well-being; education and poverty; gender equality and women empowerment.

OHHF believes that for women to reach their full potentials there is need for advocacy and sensitization on gender equality, women liberation and access to quality education for the girl child.

The foundation’s achievements could be seen in the areas of Health: Free Medical Check Up/Treatment and Distribution of Insecticide Treated Nets to the less privileged in Enugu and Anambra states; Motherless Babies Home Visitation(Visit to Red Cross Motherless Babies Home Onitsha in Anambra state, 2017); Scholarship Awards with a major focus on widow empowerment cum free medical treatment also in 2017 at Central School Umunevo  Amagunze, Nkanu East LGA Enugu State Nigeria with a record of over one hundred beneficiaries.

On International Women’s Day, Onyemaechi Hope For The Helpless Foundation’s message to women world over, especially to (THAT CAREER WOMAN) is Learn to see criticism, comments and notes from your bosses as an avenue for development. Even if the criticisms sting, move on and become a better YOU. Having a thicker skin is for the best for “no one has time to hold your hands and give you a cookie over every assignment that comes your way”.

PHELYN SKILL ACQUISITION CENTER

Phelyn Skill Acquisition Center aims to create employment, reduce poverty and enhance economic independence among Nigerian women and youths.

Established to tackle the challenge of gender inequality, hunger and poverty, the center is proud to contributing to create free business development courses to enable women improve their skills. In her five years of establishment PSAC has trained, empowered and have a record of well over 3000 beneficiaries across the 36 states of the federation.

With a strong core value in gender justice and fairness, Phelyn Skill Acquisition Center together with her partners (NDE, SMEDAN, NYSC, UNIDO HP LIFE and Youth Alive Foundation) have been able to implement laudable projects on women empowerment which include vocational trainings on production of beaded necklace, hat/fascinators, batik, tie and dye and event decorations. Also through their efforts, PSCA facilitates empowerment programmes on cake/pastries and digital literacy; participated on Women and Web Alliance Project by World Pulse where 60 youth corps members were taught on how to maximize the use of their time with mobile phones without internet access.

CONCLUSION

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. The 21^st century is the century for change and the planet earth is ready. The 21^st century woman has to fight to change the status quo that created inequality, the we have always done it this way syndrome, which opines that women must be seen and not heard must be stopped, a change which will radically gain an unprecedented momentum. The time is NOW, the time is ripe for women of all races to come together and be the harbinger of the new change and so it is with a consensus that education is the key for women’s liberation while equal access to health care, decent work, representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel the much-needed sustainable economies which would pave way to A BALANCED WORLD for a balanced world would in every way birth a BETTER WORLD.

Since the existence of human, women have always been the inferior gender. Society over time has placed labels amongst the two genders (man and woman). For men, they are: superior, the provider, the shield and head of the family. While women have been labelled as the: inferior, weak, house/home keeper and child bearer.

Women from past centuries have amazingly changed the world which have in some ways paved way for a better society. During the historical period, several women achieved awesome goals but still remained unequal and inferior to men. The historical woman could not vote, hold an everyday job nor a place in politics. They primarily managed the home front, they were seen and not heard, they had voice but were voiceless.

And so came the gender parity, the fundamental human right.

The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals for women so they could stand as equal partners with men in achieving respect, sustainable development, peace and security.

The United Nations thus declared 1975 through 1985 DECADE FOR WOMEN. Four world conferences on women were held; Mexico City 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985 and 1995 Beijing Conference. These conferences directed searchlight on a variety of issues affecting the status of women in the society, the issues which include; Violence against women; Women’s Rights; Women’s Reproductive Health et all.

Since those early years, International Women’s Day has thus begun to assume a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by these four global United Nations women’s conferences, have helped to build support for women’s rights and participation. Celebrated in many countries around the world, IWD is a day for women’s recognition for their social, economic, cultural and political achievements, a day which calls to action for accelerating gender parity for global transformation.

No doubt, the 21^st century will be the century of the female gender, that is if the world is indeed ready to embrace this paradigm shift. Women today are much different than historical women. The modern woman is consumed with many obligations, duties and responsibilities. Women are beginning to step out of their historical role of house manager dependents to a more independent, sophisticated gender. The roles of women in the society have significantly changed, goals and opportunities are more abundant for women and the modern woman is taking advantage of them in a positive and healthy way.

Today, women can vote and be voted for; the political space is present (although still narrow); today’s women have career choices and are more diligent so much so that they are beginning to have rising wages. Today, more than 70% of women work full time or part-time paid jobs which contributes an emphatic part of households’ income. Sadly, this social phenomenon is breeding profound changes that carries financial, emotional and psychological implications for both men and women, particularly in a conservative society as ours.

World over, there is increasingly an understanding of the need to unleash the untapped potential of women. There are evidences to show that when women participate even in leadership, the impacts extend far beyond the ordinary.

Common with women all over the world, African women face a variety of social, economic, legal and political constraints. Indeed, some laws somewhere still treat women as MINORS. We hear that in Congo, a woman must have her husband’s consent to open a bank account.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with approximate 180 million citizens (CIA World Fact Book 2015) recent studies reveal that modern Nigerian women are on the lowest ladder of you name it area. Nigeria with her male dominated environs have women as subordinates and underrepresented, report shows that in the nation’s 8^th National Assembly, women occupy just 7 out of 109 Senate seats and only 22 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

Political inclusion for women should be a fundamental aspect of modern democracy in Nigeria and world over and so the female gender must be encouraged. Improved representation of women have massive impacts so much so that testimonies of improved policy changes, more friendly laws (especially for married women), economic growth, sustainable peace and development abound.

Women who successfully combine careers with families have been termed lucky but the irony of life is that all may not come out with such luck, for there is a rise in marital instability as evidently seen in the last two decades; domestic violence; promiscuity; child marriage; human trafficking (International Labor Organization estimates that there are about 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, 55% of whom are women and girls).

Be that as it may, women have exceeded much expectations with their numerous hands working magic; a modern day woman can simultaneously work on her laptop, cook in the kitchen, tend to a teary-eyed baby, do laundry and still attend to the sexual needs of her husband. Regardless of all these responsibilities, she strives still to thrive even in her chosen career.