Building the foundations for peace is as much a challenge for teachers as it is for those who sign peace treaties. Conflict resolution and the implementation of peace settlements feature regularly in the news, but today on World Teachers' Day, we should ask ourselves how much such peace efforts would achieve without the unheralded contribution of the world's 50 million peace teachers? Day after day and year after year, teachers build the very fabric of peace. They transmit the knowledge, values and attitudes, the skills and behaviour which ensure that peace is not just the absence of conflict but becomes a way of life for all, putting into daily practice the concept that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace.

Millions of children across the world today live in a climate of violence. Millions have experienced the horrors of full-scale conflict; others suffer exploitation as child labourers or other forms of abuse. Everywhere children are arriving at school having already learnt the language of aggression. Over and above their class work, teachers increasingly find they have to resolve problems of bullying and harassment. They deal with the symptoms of trauma and instill a co-operative atmosphere where differences can be resolved through dialogue.

In schools where children replicate the tensions and divisions of the world outside, teachers have to help their pupils to learn the importance of making informed decisions, of thinking critically and of minimising differences in order to live together in harmony. Each time a teacher succeeds in creating a tolerant, supportive classroom environment, each time a teacher enables children to develop their self esteem, their comunication skills and ability to solve problems, a fundamental act of peace building takes place.

Today, we pay special homage to the efforts of teachers who engage in this aspect of their work, most often without the benefit of specific training, counselling, workshops or reference materials. They perform this often unnoticed and yet vital function of peace building in spite of all the problems of low status and low pay, inadequate resources and poor working conditions. But praise is not enough! It is unacceptable that those who fill one of the most crucial and central roles in our society do not receive greater support. We must ask ourselves what we can do to ensure that conditions for teachers improve substantially. Appropriate class sizes, better teacher training and career advancement, salaries comparable to those of other similarly qualified professionals, access to up to date teaching materials and new information technologies, are essential priorities.

The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers remains a benchmark in this respect. There is a growing global concern for poverty eradication: it must give priority to the role of education and put teachers at the heart of social reconstruction. Teachers must now become active partners in the planning of education and education systems, in accordance with the rights set out in international labour standards on freedom of association and collective bargaining. 

On this fifth World Teachers' Day, we appeal to the world community, to governments, parliamentarians, municipalities, the media, business communities, parents and community leaders to give teachers the support they need and acknowledge the essential role they play. It is often said that conflict is, at root, a problem of learning. If we invest in the process of learning and in teachers, who shape the future, then we will begin at last to invest fully in peace and in a better future for all the world's children.