As the world celebrates World Teachers' Day, stakeholders have underscored the need for collective effort to transform the global education landscape.
Recognising that the teacher is at the centre of effective education and development, UNESCO, ILO, Education International, and UNICEF note that the 2025 theme, "Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession," is intended to enable teachers to "fully deploy their talent and vocation" and receive the support they need for optimal and transformational outcomes.
These global bodies therefore "call on governments, partners, and the international community to make a collective commitment to ensuring that collaboration is recognised as a norm within the teaching profession, because it is only through effective cooperation at all levels that we can build truly inclusive, equitable, and resilient education systems worldwide."
They also stress that funding and welfare are critical to making teaching rewarding and results-oriented.
Under this arrangement, teachers, mentors and drivers of learning, inclusion, and innovation are expected to tap into and harness their innate qualities, skills, talents, and vocation, and collaborate with colleagues, schools, and education systems to sustainably deliver results and transform education globally.
This is a welcome paradigm shift to encourage the "teachers of the world" and other stakeholders to collaborate and rethink their contributions in order to transform education for improved and sustainable outcomes.
Making education transformational is a joint enterprise. For innovation to thrive, all stakeholders must be wholly committed to it.
Unfortunately, political will is lacking in many regions, and the state of education remains a grim testament to inaction.
Since its inception in 1994, World Teachers' Day, observed under various themes, has had far less impact on the global education landscape than desired. Therefore, current and future interventions must move beyond mere rituals and become drivers of lasting results.
According to the World Bank, the global teacher deficit has reached 44 million, with the most severe shortages in Africa.
In July, the Universal Basic Education Commission reported that only 915,913 teachers are available for 31,771,916 pupils in public and private primary schools in Nigeria, a teacher-pupil ratio of 35:1. This falls short of the UNESCO recommendation of one teacher to 25 learners for Lower and Middle Basic levels (Primaries 1-3 and Primaries 4-6).
Rabia Adamu, Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal College of Education, Ofeme-Ohuhu, Abia State, estimates that Nigeria needs 1.2 million teachers, and that the current student-teacher ratio in higher institutions ranges from 1:300 to 1:400.
UNESCO is collaborating with countries "to assess teaching needs and develop strong, evidence-based policies in relation to teacher recruitment, deployment, management, and professional development."
The organisation is also "providing policy advice and technical assistance, including the development of tools and guidelines, and opportunities for knowledge exchange and policy learning in the nine domains of its Teacher Policy Development Guide" for member states. Other relevant global bodies and countries must complement these laudable efforts.
Nigeria's education system is far from meeting the standards envisioned in the 2025 template for a collaborative teaching profession. This is why current statistics do not position the country as a strong player in the global educational ecosystem.
For positive change to occur, the country must set its priorities and policies right.
Funding remains a key issue. The Federal Government budgeted N1.54 trillion, or 6.39 per cent, for education in 2023, and N2.18 trillion, or 7.9 per cent, in 2024, far below UNESCO's recommendation of 15 to 20 per cent for developing countries. The situation is no different at the state level.
One exception is Enugu State Governor, Peter Mba, who allocated 33 per cent to education in the 2025 budget. He also launched the Enugu Smart Project across the 260 wards in the state. The initiative is "aimed at revolutionising the state's education landscape."
The Federal Government and the states must follow this example by investing more in education.
Kano State budgeted N10.5 billion for UBE counterpart funding but disbursed only N581 million in the first six months of the 2024 fiscal year.
This is in a state where the governor, Abba Yusuf, revealed in June 2024 that more than 4.7 million pupils were forced to sit on bare floors to learn.
Many governors have not employed teachers in 10 years, shifting the burden to PTAs and alumni associations. The few teachers available are poorly trained, if trained at all. Such teachers are out of touch with contemporary teaching methods and cannot operate effectively within the "Recasting Teaching as a Profession" framework.
Consequently, asking the few overworked, ill-trained teachers and the poorly paid PTA teachers to engage in collaborative teaching is like asking the blind to lead the blind.
As of August, nine states had yet to implement the N70,000 minimum wage bill signed into law in July 2024. As of October 2024, 12 states were still paying teachers the N18,000 minimum wage approved in 2011. Another minimum wage (N30,000) was approved by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2019.
The NUT lamented last year that 16 out of the 36 states did not recruit teachers between 2018 and 2022.
Teachers are poorly paid in Nigeria. A former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Wande Abimbola, said that a gardener in the United States earns more than a professor in Nigeria.
Poor welfare and related issues contribute to the country's high rate of brain drain. The immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said that 239 first-class graduates employed as lecturers left the university within six years.
While Nigeria neglects its teachers, Finland has a robust policy for education and educators.
According to TeachAway.com, a master's degree is required to teach in that country, while teachers earn between €32,000 and €41,000 annually and enjoy private medical insurance.
The value placed on teachers in Finland earns them more respect than doctors, engineers, and other professionals.
Nigeria was ranked 12th in 2023 among African countries with the best education system, based on skill development.
Seychelles, ranked first, is the first African country to achieve UNESCO's Education for All target. Tunisia, ranked second in Africa, allocates 20 per cent of its national budget to education, while Mauritius, in third place, requires compulsory education for all children up to age 16. South Africa, ranked fourth, allocates 18 per cent of its budget to education.
According to UBEC, more than N135 billion in matching grants for implementing Universal Basic Education went unused from 2020 to 2024.
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Finland spends 5.4 per cent of its GDP on education, including R&D. Education there is free.
According to FocusEconomics, Finland has "a highly developed economy with a strong industrial base, innovation-driven policies, and a robust public sector" as a result of its investment in education.
China, Finland, South Korea, the UK, and the US invest heavily in education. Others should learn from these templates.
Collaboration must not be for its own sake. The 2025 theme assumes that all teachers and other stakeholders are already doing the right thing. Stakeholders and teachers must deliver in their respective domains to engage in fruitful collaboration.
The three tiers of government must show leadership by setting the right policies and implementation frameworks.
Nigeria's education system requires sweeping reforms to interrogate the critical issues and lift the sector to an enviable status.