LUSAKA, Oct. 5 — Zambia on Tuesday joined the rest of the world in commemorating this year’s World Teachers’ Day with President Hakainde Hichilema pledging his government will support the teachers so that they fulfill their goal of bringing knowledge that will positively impact the people.
The Zambian leader said teachers have continued to play a critical role in shaping humanity, changing destinies, and improving the lives of millions of people through commerce, science and innovations.
“As a matter of fact, the greatest revolutionaries used the teaching vacation as a vehicle to transforming ideas that improved communities and changed lives of their people,” he said in a message to mark the day.
He commended the country’s founding President Kenneth Kaunda, a teacher by profession, who used the unique competence of teaching to mobilize support for the liberation struggle and used the profession to enhance unity and national development after independence.
The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”.
Meanwhile, the National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has called for a fresh start for teachers in Zambia.
Aaron Chansa, the organization’s executive director said teachers were lowly regarded because of the societal attitude despite their heroic achievements.
“While everyone in Zambia agrees that teachers are the most important human resource, many surprisingly don’t support the view that teachers should be paid above the rest. With this societal attitude, we now have, as a country, a lowly regarded teaching profession. This is sad for the country,” he said in a release. – Xinhua
Zambia pledges to support teachers fulfill their goals
