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Without action, it will be impossible to get all children into school by 2030

In the rush to fill the chronic, global shortage of teachers many countries are sacrificing standards and

undermining progress by hiring people with little or no training, concludes a new UNESCO policy paper,

published on World Teachers Day 2014.

Prepared by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR), it shows that at least 93 countries have an acute teacher shortage, and need to recruit some four million teachers to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

If the deadline is extended to 2030, more than 27 million teachers need to be hired, 24 million of whom will be required to compensate for natural attrition. At present rates, however, 28 (or 30%) of these 93 countries will not meet these needs. Sub-Saharan Africa faces the greatest teacher shortage, accounting for two-thirds of the new teachers needed by 2030. The problem is exacerbated by a steadily growing school-age population.

“A quality universal primary education will remain a distant dream for millions of children living in countries without enough trained teachers in classrooms,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO. “Teachers are the core of any education system. Hiring and training new and already established teachers is fundamental to protecting children’s ability to learn in school.’

Under pressure to fill gaps, many countries are recruiting teachers who lack the most basic training. In one-third of countries with data, fewer than 75% of primary school teachers were trained according to national standards in 2012. In Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and South Sudan, this figure falls below 50%. As a result, in roughly a third of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the GMR shows that the challenge of training existing teachers is greater than that of recruiting new teachers to the profession.

“Putting well-intentioned instructors in front of huge classrooms and calling them teachers will not deliver our ambitions to have every child in school and learning,” said Aaron Benavot, director of the EFA Global Monitoring Report. “We have prepared a newAdvocacy Toolkit for teachers to help us relay these messages to their governments. Teachers, better than anyone else, can relay how teacher shortages and

a lack of training are making it nigh-on impossible to deliver a quality education”

Countries must ensure that all new teacher candidates have completed at least secondary education. Yet the GMR shows that the numbers of those with this qualification in many countries are in short supply: eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa would have to recruit at least 5% of their secondary school graduates into the teaching force by 2020. Niger would need to recruit up to 30%. In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of paying the salaries of the additional teachers required by 2020 totals an extra US$5.2 billion per year before counting for training, learning materials and school buildings.

With the greatest number of children out of school in the world, Nigeria alone will need to allocate an extra US$1.8 billion per year. “The good news is that most countries can afford to hire the extra teachers if they continue to steadily increase investment in education,” said Hendrik van der Pol, director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. “Over the past decade, education budgets across Sub-Saharan Africa have been growing by 7% in real terms, reflecting the commitment to get more teachers and children in classrooms. However four countries will need to significantly increase their education budgets if they’re to cover the bills: the Central African Republic, Mali, Chad and Malawi. All will need to cater for the costs of training these new recruits as well.”

In order to gauge teachers opinions on these issues, the GMR has launched an online questionnaire for teachers, asking them to assess where policy reforms have made a difference and where there is still room for improvement.

-ENDS-

For interviews, photos, quotes of teachers or children, or for more information, please contact:

• Kate Redman k.redman@unesco.org 0033 602049345

• Amy Otchet, UNESCO Institute for Statistics (Canada), a.otchet@unesco.org, +1 514 402 7836

• Sue Williams s.williams@unesco.org 0033 1 45 68 17 06 or 0033 6 15 92 93 62

Notes to Editors:

Developed by an independent team and published by UNESCO, the Education for All Global Monitoring

Report is an authoritative reference that aims to inform, influence and sustain genuine commitment

towards Education for All.

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