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The situation of teachers: A silent emergency

Technological advances and educational reforms are calling for teachers to work longer hours and to have better qualifications, yet the working conditions of many of the world's 50 million teachers have deteriorated dramatically in recent years. The importance of teachers is generally recognized, but financial constraints and political sensitivities have resulted in education budgets and policies ignoring their welfare. In many developing countries, teachers' salaries amount to as much as 95 per cent of public education budgets. Thus any improvement in teachers' employment conditions requires increase in funding.

"There is a need to restore value, both morally and materially, to the function of teachers and educators and to give them back status, recognition and dignity within their society," states Education International, an umbrella organization for some 258 national teachers' unions.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the situation of teachers has reached "an intolerably low point". The organization draws attention to the drastic erosion of teachers' working conditions worldwide and the consequent massive exodus of qualified and experienced educators to better-paid jobs.

This year's focus on teachers may help draw international attention to the problem and identify solutions. During the EFA Forum meeting in Amman in June, as well as at the 45th session of the International Conference on Education in October, ministers of education will gather to discuss these issues.

Dramatic deteriorations

The situation for teachers is most pressing in developing countries where two-thirds of the world's teachers live. The economic crisis racking so many African and Latin American countries has resulted in dramatic deteriorations in teachers' working conditions. It is argued that the structural adjustment programmes supported by foreign aid donors may lead to economic progress in the long-term, but it is clear that they cause or exacerbate various problems for educators in the short-term.


The working conditions of the world's 50 million teachers
have deteriorated dramatically in recent years. But not all is bleak.
In countries such as Zimbabwe, the number of teachers as well as teachers' salaries
have increased, and teachers have been trained to give classes in rural communities. (UNICEF/Carolyn Watson)

Heavily criticized by ILO and Education International, these austerity programmes have reduced the numbers of teachers and led to cuts in teachers' already low salaries. In Argentina, for example, teachers' real salaries in 1993 were half of what they received in 1981, and in the Central African Republic, Kenya and Madagascar, teachers' purchasing power decreased by more than 30 per cent in the last decade. From the Central African Republic to Zaire, from Bolivia to Ecuador and the Russian Federation, teachers go on strike to protest against unpaid or delayed wages, paralysing schools for weeks or even months.

A related problem is the physical condition of the classroom. In countries such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal and the Central African Republic some teachers work in classrooms with more than 100 pupils. Classrooms without desks, chairs, blackboards and chalk, textbooks, or teacher guides are no exception in many developing countries.
"The lack of books and paper is one of my greatest problems," says Jean Marie Dongmo, a primary school teacher in Cameroon. "I have to write all exercises and homework on the blackboard."

Such circumstances force many teachers to look for other jobs. "I keep telling myself that I need to find another job. But teaching and doing another job would not do justice to the children or myself as the job with the better salary would be my priority," said Aleric Gayle, a teacher in Jamaica.

In industrialized countries teachers encounter different problems as changes in methodology, additional workloads and increasing multi-cultural classroom situations take a heavy toll.Violence in schools is another growing problem. In France, for instance, a wave of violence against teachers has been widely reported in the press and the resulting teacher strikes paralysed several schools.

Positive progress for teachers

But in a situation beset by pessimism, not all is bleak. Some countries, such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, have managed to increase the number of teachers employed, as well as to raise teachers' salaries, while the economic "tigers" in Asia, such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea, have increased their education budgets annually by an average of 5 per cent and their teacher salaries have been on the increase.

Some governments are providing incentives to recruit teachers for undesirable locations. Indonesia, for example, gives rural teachers a 50 per cent salary bonus; Botswana ensures that rural communities provide their teachers with a house; and in Sri Lanka, 50,000 teacher trainees have been recruited from highly qualified youths in each village.

Another new phenomenon is the increasing involvement of non-governmental organizations and teacher associations in providing teacher education, especially in Latin America and Asia. In war-devastated countries such as Liberia, the idea of recruiting teachers willing to work for food is gaining ground, but these initiatives are scarce and cannot meet the demand for teachers. This demand will increase in the coming years. Recent UNESCO projections indicate that to meet the goal of universal primary education, the world will need 9 million additional teachers by the year 2000.

The changing role of the teacher

Rapid technological development and the spread of non-conventional learning involving distance teaching and non-formal education demand new skills of teachers, and modern instructional materials and equipment. This posits a whole new set of requirements on a service sector already beset by low morale.
"In the future, teachers will have an even more important role as they increasingly will function as learning facilitators, helping students to grasp and select among all the information available," said professor Anne-Lise Høstmark Tarrou, a member of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART).