Home

10%

Celebrating Teachers, Transforming the Future of Education

Education Cannot Wait celebrates World Teachers’ Day with inspiring stories from Chad, Colombia and Ecuador

By Education Cannot Wait

October 5^th, 2022

October 5 marks World Teachers’ Day, giving us the chance to recognize the impact teachers have on our children and our world. For the 222 million vulnerable children and adolescents worldwide that urgently need our support, an amazing teacher provides hope in the face of crisis, stability out of chaos and opportunity for a brighter future.

These frontline heroes play a key role in keeping children in school and shaping their futures.

Unfortunately, gaps in funding and irregular payment of salaries, inequitable recruitment and management policies, barriers to certification, a lack of professional development, and inadequate mental health and psychosocial support all pose serious challenges to teachers working in emergencies and protracted crises.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) calls on country leaders, governments, public and private sector donors, civil society organizations and high-net-worth individuals to fund innovative and transformative educational solutions. Teachers should be at the center of these solutions — not just as instructors, but as producers, practitioners and policy partners.

The transformation of education begins with teachers. Join us in celebrating their power to make a better world with these inspiring stories from Chad, Colombia and Ecuador.

Armand, a teacher at Gondjé School, practices a school-based disaster risk drill with his students to prepare them for emergency scenarios. Photo © UNICEF CHAD/2021/Frank Dejongh

CHAD

Armand, a sixth grade teacher at the Gondjé Refugee Camp School in Chad, hears a student yell “Gondje!” It echoes off the brick walls of his small classroom, signaling imminent danger.

Armand’s students glance nervously around the room, whispering. Armand tells them to keep their voices down and to engage their safety plan. The students stop talking almost instantly, grab hands and walk out of the classroom to their pre-designated shelter spot.

Armand’s class was never actually in danger. The sound of the alarm was just an emergency evacuation drill — a practical way to prepare for the next security threat. Armand’s calm voice, assured directions and clear plan is the sign of a strong leader under pressure. Though this drill wasn’t a real emergency, Armand executed his emergency plan perfectly. And he’ll be able to do so if he ever does, actually, face an emergency.

The Gondjé School hosts refugee and host community children who live around a remote refugee camp. The country hosts half a million refugees from neighboring countries: primarily from the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Sudan.

A combination of factors — forced migration, food insecurity, malnutrition, health emergencies and climate change — has put a significant strain on educational systems in the region. Internal displacement within Chad also affects many citizens. These challenges threaten continuity in school environments, and teachers must always be prepared to respond to potential emergencies.

Given the school’s rural setting, help is not often closeby. In case of an emergency, teachers like Armand must be prepared for all eventualities.

At Gondjé School, ECW support ensured that Armand received training through the Conflicts/Disasters Risk Reduction approach, which is vital for the development of response plans in schools. He was also provided teaching aids which assisted him with his lesson planning.

“With this course, we are prepared. We have the advantage of being able to control the children and guide them if a disaster or incident that requires evacuation happens, as what happens elsewhere can also happen here.”

During the delivery of the course, Armand identified one to two students who could lead their classmates and ensure their safety in the event of an evacuation. He then identified one to two teachers who could respond quickly to an emergency signal, like he did during the drill.

ECW works to increase access to learning by making schools safer in Chad. The Fund originally helped respond to challenges in Chad with a US$10 million investment in 2017, which later transitioned to a $21 million Multi-Year-Resilience Program (MYRP) investment. Working with UNICEF and Chad’s Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion, ECW funding has helped train over 1,000 teachers and administrators in emergency preparedness, disaster risk reduction and risk management topics.

COLOMBIA

Adapted stories from the field. View original and original.

Milena, a teacher at the Educational Institute in Medellín, and Alonso, the principal at an educational institution in Cúcuta are dedicated to teaching, mentoring and supporting their diverse student bodies in Colombia.

The migratory crisis and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it impossible for thousands of Venezuelan children and adolescents to start or resume their education in the country.

Thanks to the programme, “La Educación no puede esperar” (Education Cannot Wait in English), Milena and Alonso are able to more easily support adolescents in this area — regardless of nationality, gender, race or ethnicity.

The programme implements accelerated learning models, which provide students with basic primary concepts of reading, writing, and logic and math skills. Milena, with the help of the programme, can more easily build the resilience of the refugee population in her classroom. With this help, Milena’s students are able to continue their learning process and can have a more prosperous future.

"The ‘La Educación no puede esperar’ programme helped the children a lot and they also really liked the work they did in the classrooms. We hope that we can continue this activity this year.” ~Milena, teacher at the Educational Institute in Medellín

According to the Ministry of Education in Colombia, many adolescents are out of school because of the “lack of educational infrastructure, especially in rural areas.” Improving the quality of educational spaces and sanitary programmes is essential to supporting teachers and reducing the number of out-of-school children and adolescents. Through safe learning environments and training, teachers like Milena are able to provide better instruction and impart health knowledge via WASH programmes.

“For us as an institution, it’s very important to have adequate sanitation facilities and basic sanitation programmes. Where we are located, people require constant help to develop their skills. The help of these organizations is a grain of sand in an ocean of need.” ~Alonso, the principal at an educational institution in Cúcuta

With ECW funding, the programme has improved classrooms and boys’ and girls’ bathrooms in educational institutions that allow teachers to implement accelerated learning models. By providing new materials, desks, sinks, urinals and water tanks for access to safe drinking water, teachers like Milena are better able to support their students. These facilities are essential to both teacher and student well-being.

The initiative is implemented by World Vision, UNICEF, Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and PLAN International. It seeks to improve access to quality, protective and equitable education for out-of-school refugee, migrant and host-community children and adolescents in nine states within the country.

ECUADOR

Adapted story from the field. View original.

Doris is a devoted, hard-working teacher who believes that education is the path to building a better future. She teaches third-year basic education in Kichwa at Unidad Intercultural Bilingüe Miguel Egas Cabezas in Otavalo, Ecuador.

As a child, Doris did not have much access to education. Given her parents limited financial resources, she wasn’t able to continue her studies past basic education. Her parents couldn't afford for her to attend higher education. However, with considerable self-dedication, Doris worked to finance her own studies to become a teacher. Doris finds that setting goals leads to success.

Now, Doris is constantly asking herself how she can teach most effectively. By questioning her teaching methods, she tries to improve the quality of education that she delivers to her students.

“It’s up to us, the educators. We teachers cannot be disconnected from technology. It is what challenges us to new ideas and knowledge.”

Ecuador hosts the largest recognized refugee population in Latin America to date. Doris explains that there are many Colombian and Venezuelan refugee children in her classrooms. Refugee children sometimes come in the middle of the school year, and are in urgent need of school materials and other resources.

“We have welcomed these children and we make sure that they have everything they need…We have had to make them feel at home, it is our priority.”

Doris does her best to provide quality education to all of her students. For her, education goes beyond traditional learning — it creates a space where students can feel safe and adjust to new environments. She maintains that education alone can help fix inequalities. With education, she says, students will have the tools to resolve situations at home, at work and in any other place.

Doris is a teacher in an ECW-supported education facility. Implementing partners include UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF and IPANC in coordination with the Ministry of Education in Ecuador. Through its multi-year programme in the country, ECW is funding the “La Educación es el Camino” programme which supports access to inclusive and equitable quality education for Venezuelan refugee, migrant and host-community children and adolescents. The programme will benefit more than 100,000 girls, boys and adolescents in vulnerable situations, thanks to ECW seed funding of $7.4 million for 2021-2023.

Demonstration on how to use a menstrual hygiene management (MHM) kit at The Gondje School in Chad. Photo © Irene Galera

ACKNOWLEDGING AND SUPPORTING INSTRUCTORS OF THE WORLD

ECW's Strategic Plan 2023 - 2026 lays out our commitment to improve the quality of support provided to teachers and help to resolve the policy barriers affecting them in crisis settings. This will include systematically supporting a locally-driven gender analysis to understand the barriers faced by female teachers, and building teacher capacity on gender-responsive and disability-inclusive pedagogy.

According to our 2021 Annual Results Report, ECW grants have enabled the recruitment and financial support of nearly 160,000 teachers/administrators around the world – and supported the training of over 87,000 – since the Fund’s inception.

Last year, 2,581 ECW-supported learning spaces increased access to clean drinking water, safe sanitation facilities and basic hand-washing facilities. 16,983 teachers and administrators were trained in WASH topics. ECW partners also trained 18,639 teachers and administrators in emergency preparedness, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and risk management.

Since ECW’s inception, the number of teachers trained on mental health and psychosocial support topics has doubled, to about 54,000. ECW also supports teachers in addressing their own well-being, so they can support children and adolescents more effectively.

But there is still work to do to fulfill our promise of turning the #222MillionDreams✨📚 of crisis-affected children and adolescents into reality. This promise begins by prioritizing and investing in teachers, and the critical role they play in transforming education.

Alibert Rodríguez, a school teacher and Primary School instructor in Venezuela, writes what it means for her to be a teacher. Photo © UNICEF/2020/Carolina Cabral

Access high-resolution photos from this story and our full media library on ECW’sFLICKR

Button Label