Published: 10:38 PM, 04 October 2026
Present State of Teaching Profession in Bangladesh and Some Preludes
World Teachers’ Day is observed every year on October 5. UNESCO recognizes the day as an occasion to acknowledge the indispensable contribution teachers make to education, human development and the advancement of societies.
Across the world, October 5 provides an opportunity to remember, honour and recognize teachers for their service, dedication and contribution to the formation of future generations.
The Origins of World Teachers’ Day
The origins of World Teachers’ Day can be traced to October 5, 1966, when the Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers was convened in Paris. At the conference, UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted recommendations concerning the status of teachers. For the first time, an international framework comprehensively addressed teachers’ rights and responsibilities as well as broader issues relating to the teaching profession.
Since 1994, October 5 has been observed annually as World Teachers’ Day. Education International (EI), along with its member organizations around the world, plays an important role in commemorating the occasion. Each year, EI announces a theme intended to stimulate public awareness of the challenges facing educators and to underscore their enduring contribution to society.
Although the date varies from country to country, Teachers’ Day is observed in numerous nations around the world. India, for instance, observes Teachers’ Day on September 5, while Australia observes it on the last Friday of October. Bhutan marks the occasion on May 2, Indonesia on November 25, Malaysia on May 16, Iran on May 2, Iraq on March 1, Argentina on September 11, Brazil on October 15, China on September 10, Taiwan on September 28, Thailand on January 16 and Singapore on the first Friday of September.
The theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day—“Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures”—is particularly pertinent to the contemporary educational landscape.
Teaching is no longer merely the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another; it is an evolving, collaborative and intellectually demanding profession. Teachers are among the principal architects of a nation’s human capital and the quality of education depends substantially on their competence, commitment and professional dignity.
The responsibility of preparing future generations for an increasingly complex world rests, to a considerable extent, on teachers. They must therefore be adequately qualified, continuously trained, professionally respected and appropriately supported. At the same time, the persistent shortage of skilled and competent teachers deserves far greater attention than it currently receives.
If education is the backbone of a nation, teachers are the backbone of education. Yet teachers in Bangladesh continue to confront a range of structural, professional and institutional challenges. When educators themselves remain insecure, undervalued or professionally constrained, it becomes exceedingly difficult to ensure high-quality education or achieve the broader objectives of national development.
Ensuring the Professional Security of Teachers
The foremost priority should be to ensure the overall security and dignity of the teaching profession. The absence of adequate professional and financial security discourages many talented young people from entering teaching. If this trend persists, the profession may struggle to attract the calibre of human resources it requires.
The time has therefore come to establish a comprehensive framework of professional security for teachers. This could include appropriate insurance schemes, accessible housing or special loan facilities, institutional safeguards and other forms of social protection. Teachers’ remuneration should also be structured according to transparent and nationally consistent criteria, while taking into account changing living costs and the economic realities of different periods.
Teaching is often described as a noble profession, but nobility alone cannot compensate for inadequate remuneration, limited professional mobility, or insufficient institutional protection. A profession that carries such profound responsibility for the future of a nation should not remain comparatively vulnerable in terms of career security and social protection.
In contemporary Bangladesh that emerged in the aftermath of August 5, 2024, we witnessed teachers becoming among the most humiliated, demeaned and harassed members of society. And as a nation, it is profoundly a shameful matter for us.
If Bangladesh wants its most capable minds to enter teaching, the profession must offer not only prestige but also stability, dignity and a viable career trajectory.
Investing in Education and Attracting Talent
Education is perhaps the most consequential long-term investment a society can make. There is no credible substitute for sustained investment in education if a country aspires to achieve inclusive and durable development.
Indian Nobel Peace laureate and education advocate Kailash Satyarthi has argued that investing one dollar in education can generate a fifteen-fold return over the following twenty years.
The broader principle is clear: investment in education produces dividends not merely in economic terms but also in human capability, social cohesion, innovation and national productivity.
Bangladesh should therefore increase investment in education while simultaneously creating stronger incentives for talented young people to choose teaching as a profession. Students with an aptitude and genuine interest in education should be encouraged to enter the profession through transparent, merit-based, and contemporary recruitment and assessment mechanisms.
A country cannot build a world-class education system without first building a world-class teaching workforce.
Continuous Professional Development
Improving teachers’ professional skills is another major challenge. Information technology is transforming the world at an extraordinary pace, and education cannot remain insulated from that transformation. Teachers, consequently, must also evolve continuously.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in the technological preparedness of many educators in Bangladesh. The sudden transition towards online and technology-assisted learning demonstrated that digital competence is no longer an optional attribute for teachers; it is an essential professional skill.
A teacher today is not merely preparing students for the present. A teacher is preparing young people for opportunities and challenges that may emerge a decade from now. Teachers must therefore be equipped with contemporary pedagogical methods, digital literacy, critical-thinking tools and an international outlook.
Modern, world-class training programs, seminars, symposiums, workshops and professional-development initiatives should be organized regularly. Educational institutions should also encourage teachers to pursue continuous self-development rather than treating professional learning as an occasional administrative requirement.
Bangladeshi teachers should be given opportunities to benchmark themselves against international standards and engage with global educational practices.
Addressing Teacher Shortages and Promotion Bottlenecks
Effective measures must also be adopted to address teacher shortages and longstanding complications surrounding promotion.
A number of educational institutions continue to experience shortages of teachers, while promotion in government secondary schools can be excessively protracted. Numerous posts of head teachers reportedly remain vacant even as eligible teachers wait for career advancement.
A more functional promotion structure could help alleviate this institutional bottleneck. For instance, the promotion of eligible assistant head teachers to head-teacher positions could create opportunities for senior teachers to advance to assistant head-teacher positions. Such a cascading system could accelerate promotions while simultaneously reducing administrative stagnation.
The complexities surrounding selection grades, time scales, and other forms of career progression also require systematic review. Timely promotion should become a predictable component of a teacher’s professional trajectory rather than an uncertain administrative privilege.
Strengthening Primary Education
The primary level constitutes the foundation upon which a student’s subsequent educational development is built. If children receive high-quality instruction at this formative stage, they are more likely to develop stronger academic foundations and become capable learners in later life.
This is why the quality of primary-school teachers deserves particular attention. Subject-specific teachers should gradually be introduced at the primary level where appropriate, ensuring that children receive instruction from educators with relevant academic expertise.Improving the quality of primary education is not simply an educational reform; it is an investment in the intellectual architecture of the next generation.
Recognizing and Rewarding Teachers
Teachers also need meaningful recognition for their work. Recognition is a powerful source of professional motivation, particularly in a profession where many contributions are intangible and their results may become visible only years later.
Educational authorities and institutions should therefore develop transparent mechanisms for recognizing exemplary teaching, innovation, leadership, research, student engagement and community service.
Many institutions have already introduced initiatives such as annual ‘Best Teacher’ awards. In Bangladesh, initiatives such as the ‘Leadership in Crisis’ recognition program associated with a2i and Grameenphone have also demonstrated the value of acknowledging teachers who make exceptional contributions under difficult circumstances.
At the same time, students’ informed feedback on classroom teaching could be incorporated into broader evaluation mechanisms. Such feedback, if collected responsibly and interpreted within a fair institutional framework, could benefit teachers, students and educational institutions alike.
The Inception of Official Observance of Teachers’ Day in Bangladesh
Another issue deserves particular attention: the official observance of Teachers’ Day in Bangladesh.
For a considerable period, I had been writing about the importance of officially observing October 5 as Teachers’ Day in Bangladesh. The matter eventually came to the government’s attention, and the government subsequently took the initiative to officially observe the day.
In 2023, an initiative was reportedly taken to observe the occasion officially as ‘National Teachers’ Day’. I welcomed that decision because institutional recognition of teachers sends an important message about the value a nation attaches to education and those who deliver it.
Subsequently, rather than maintaining the designation ‘National Teachers’ Day’, the Ministry of Education took the initiative to observe the occasion as World Teachers’ Day.
The formal observance of the day can be more than a ceremonial exercise. If designed meaningfully, it can provide an opportunity to acknowledge outstanding educators, discuss the structural challenges confronting the profession, review educational policies and reaffirm society’s commitment to teachers.
Above all, teachers should feel that their work is visible, valued and consequential. Institutional recognition can provide an important psychological and professional incentive.
The Larger Question of Dignity
Teaching is undeniably one of the most consequential professions in any society. Teachers shape not only students’ academic abilities but also, in many cases, their values, intellectual curiosity, confidence and understanding of the world.
Yet recent incidents involving attacks on and humiliation of teachers are deeply concerning. At the same time, instances of ethical and ideological lapses within the teaching community are equally troubling. Professional dignity must therefore be accompanied by professional responsibility.
Society has legitimate expectations of teachers, but those expectations must be matched by adequate institutional support, remuneration, professional development and protection. The relationship between teachers and society cannot be sustained through responsibility alone; it must also be founded on dignity, accountability and mutual respect.
Bangladesh cannot aspire to transform its education system while leaving its teachers structurally disadvantaged. Nor can it build a competitive knowledge economy without attracting, retaining and continuously developing its most capable educators.
The future of education ultimately depends not merely on curricula, buildings, technology or examinations, but on the people who stand at the centre of the entire process.
If Bangladesh is serious about building a knowledgeable, innovative and humane society, it must begin by treating its teachers not simply as employees of an educational system, but as custodians of the nation’s intellectual future.
Emran Emon is an eminent
journalist, columnist and global
affairs analyst. He can be reached
