WORLD TEACHER'S DAY: History, Theme, Significance and more

Updated: Thursday, July 23, 2026, 14:43 [IST]

World Teachers' Day is celebrated on 5 October every year to celebrate all teachers around the world. It commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 International Labour Organization /UNESCO recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers.

World Teacher's Day 2022: Theme

The theme for World Teachers' Day 2022 is- "The transformation of education begins with teachers".
Teacher's Day celebrations will address the commitments for action made at the Transforming Education Summit, in September 2022, and analyse the problems they have for teachers and teaching.

Teacher's Day Celebrations

The three-day celebration at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, will include the awarding ceremony of the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development. There will be a series of events showcasing how guaranteeing teachers' decent working conditions, access to professional development opportunities and a recognized professional status is a first step towards more resilient education systems.

Teacher's Day: History

The recommendations concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching personnel in higher education.
World Teachers' Day was celebrated first time in 1994. This day is celebrated to recognise how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession on global level.

World Teachers' Day is co-convened in partnership with:

1. International Labour Organization (ILO)
2. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
3. Education International (EI)

TEACHERS' DAY: Concerning Stats

The proportion of women among primary school teachers in low-income countries (41%) is half that in high-income countries (82%).
Approximately 94% of teachers are in pre-primary education, but only about half of those in upper secondary education, are female.
More teachers are needed in displacement settings.
In low-income countries, only 23% of secondary school teachers are women while at tertiary level only 19% % of teachers are women.
In India, the share of female teachers declines with the remoteness of schools, from 60% when the school is located at the local government seat to 30% when it is 30 km away.
Beyond quantity, teaching quality remains a concern, especially in those countries struggling to recruit enough teachers, resulting in the enrolment of untrained educators, often on temporary contracts

Without enough teachers, classrooms are overcrowded, teachers are overworked and demotivated and the quality of teaching is automatically inadequate to enable all learners, especially the most vulnerable, to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Many teachers do not have access to quality training and continuous professional development throughout their careers.

What is World Teacher's Day 2022 advocating for?

In line with the pre-summit global deliberations, the Education Summit recognizes that educational transformation will only happen if teachers, the change makers at the core of any education system, are trained, motivated, professionalized and supported to drive the process and to guide the students to reach their objectives and well-being.
Each country should have the right number of qualified and trained teachers and other education professionals in the right place with the right skills.

World Teacher's Day: Recommendations

All teachers should have access to continuous professional development opportunities throughout their careers.
Every teacher, school leader or be it an education personnel, should have a recognized professional status, can participate in social and policy dialogue and also work in conditions that enable them to perform and transform education from within and on a larger scale.
Teachers and other professionals should be empowered to lead learning, innovate, produce and harness relevant research and innovations.
The state of the teaching profession worldwide is far from meeting these commitments yet. This critical situation requires urgent actions. The World Teachers' Day 2022 commemorations will focus on the support that teachers need to fully contribute to educational transformations.