What is World Teachers Day?
On October 5 each year, teachers’ organizations worldwide mobilize to ensure that the needs of future generations are taken into consideration.

UNESCO inaugurated October 5 as World Teachers’ Day in 1993. This day represents the appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development. Since 2000, the international community has made solid progress towards Education for all. Enrolment rates have increased dramatically. However, UNESCO estimates that 18 million more teachers are needed worldwide if universal primary education is to be achieved by 2015.

October 5 is World Teachers’ Day, a day set aside by the world community to celebrate teachers and the central role they play in nurturing and guiding infants, children, youth and adults through the life-long learning process.

Read more about world teachers day at: http://www.ei-ie.org

Importance of teachers
The shortage of qualified teachers is considered one of the biggest obstacles. Accordingly, this year’s activities are focused on professional training for quality education. Teachers’ unions around the world are calling on public authorities to develop and provide adequate training programs - because teachers matter!

Every day, in millions of classrooms around the world, the universal endeavor of teaching and learning takes place. The gift of literacy is passed from one generation to the next, along with love of learning and thirst for knowledge. When knowledge is shared, skills are gained and lives can be changed. If in these early stages of development of a child, the teacher is not fully equipped to tackle the challenges, the student’s upbringing or training suffers drastically.

Therefore it has been recognized globally that ‘Teachers Matter’ and this motto has become the slogan for World Teachers Day 2008. Because it is the teachers in the students life throughout the various stages that help in developing them into able human beings who become thinkers or visionaries.

Click here to read more: http://www.trb.tas.gov.au/wtd.htm

Some ways to celebrate World Teachers Day
For those of you looking for a little creative inspiration on teacher appreciation and how to celebrate World Teachers' Day, school-wide or in the classroom, listed here are a few ways that people in the past have celebrated:
• An essay competition can be organized in all the local schools with the topic focusing on the teachers or the work teachers do.
• Send appreciation cards to your teachers. 
• In some countries students organize concerts for their teachers. These can not be regular concerts though. They are classical concerts or students can invite those artists which the teachers really like.
• Students can create a work of art for their teachers as a token of appreciation.

Get a whole list of ideas from: http://www.teacher-appreciation.info

Lack of motivation in Teachers in Pakistan
There are many complaints about Pakistan's primary schools and the lack of quality education found in them. One of the main concerns is the lack of proper teaching and teacher motivation. This problem has and continues to lead to the erosion of standards in the nation's schools.

There are five reasons primary school teachers in Pakistan lack motivation.

• The first is an inadequate salary. In Pakistan, primary school teachers are not paid up to international standards. It is very difficult for most teachers to stay motivated if they are continuously under pressure from financial problems. Good pay is one incentive to encourage employees in any profession to work harder and in a more dedicated and enthusiastic manner. Financial security helps them concentrate on their jobs without worrying about how to make ends meet every month. Because many primary school teachers in Pakistan are forced to take on extra jobs to supplement their incomes, they are often absent from the classroom.

• Second, unlike medicine and engineering, teaching as a profession does not garner the status and respect the former two vocations do. In fact, the status of teachers, particularly male teachers, has suffered so severely that men who are part of Pakistan's "educated unemployed" (individuals with high qualifications but who remain unemployed) become teachers only as a last resort. Even in this case though, teaching is seen as a temporary job that will be left once a better opportunity comes along.

• Third, the horrible working conditions many teachers must endure further lessen their motivation. They discourage possible candidates from becoming teachers and often lead to incumbent teachers leaving the profession.

• Fourth, there is little opportunity for career advancement in the teaching profession in Pakistan, especially for primary school teachers. The only one available to most teachers is to move into secondary school teaching. This however, has negative effects on the primary school system, since it is often the most motivated teachers who leave teaching primary school for secondary school.

• Finally, there is virtually no system of accountability for teachers. Teachers are often accountable to Pakistan's education department which is far from their teaching milieu. This means they can get away with absenteeism. There is no local authority to ensure that teachers attend classes and teach their students. Head teachers have little authority to censure teachers who do not turn up for work. Even parents have no way to endure proper teaching.

In practical terms, a teacher's poor motivation translates into absenteeism, indifferent classroom practices and teachers leaving the profession. This high turnover in the profession is especially damaging for the whole system because the government's investment in teacher training is lost and replacing and training teachers who have left is another expense incurred.

These issues will only come to light when students will start helping the teachers and giving them the respect that they deserve. When the government starts to give proper rights to the teachers, more people can enroll into the program and the current existing teaching force will feel motivated and challenged.

Read the detailed article at: http://www.yespakistan.com