RAMALLAH, October 4, 2012 (WAFA) - Minister of Education Lamis Alami and Representative of UNESCO to the Palestinian Authority Derek Elias, opened the ceremony celebrating World Teachers’ Day in Al-Bireh, said a UNESCO and MoE Joint Press Release on Thursday.
During the ceremony, which was under the theme “Taking a Stand for Teachers,” the Ministry of Education announced the official adoption of professional standards for Teachers and New Teachers’ Code of Conduct.
The ceremony was attended by Head of Section Social Affairs at the European Union Olga Baus Gibert, and Secretary General for Teachers’ Union Mohammad Sowwan.
Alami said, “We are all responsible for improving the status of the teaching profession. This is the least that can be done because the quality of education cannot be improved without paying specific attention to improving the status of teachers.”
She insisted that the decline in teachers’ status doesn’t necessarily suggest the decline of their role in societies, but a decline in the system of values.
World Teachers’ Day was declared by UNESCO and held annually on October 5th since 1994, commemorating the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers.
Elias said that governments all over the world are urged to provide teachers with access to teacher training opportunities and continued professional development, based on appropriate qualifications.
“A teacher can only be as effective as the support that he or she gets,” said Gibert.
The celebration gathered around 200 teachers and educationalists connected with their colleagues in Gaza via video conference and they discussed the challenges facing the teaching profession and the role played by teachers to achieve quality education.
During the ceremony, Chief Field Education program for UNRWA in the West Bank Muhannad Beidas announced the launching of “Transforming Classrooms” program of school-based teacher development and the “Leading for the Future” program.
M.H.
