Thousands of teachers and education officials from Eastern Visayas will join the regional celebration of World Teachers’ Day at the Tacloban City Convention Center today, October 5.
DepEd Undersecretary for curriculum and instruction Dina Ocampo will lead the event that will cap the celebration of Teachers’ Month with the theme, “Guro Kabalikat sa Pagbabago” (Teachers Partners for Change).
“We expect about 4,000 participants from the 13 school division offices and half of them will come from Tacloban City,” said Department of Education (DepEd) city schools division superintendent Thelma Quitalig.
Key officials from the DepEd central, regional and field offices in cities and provinces will join the one-day activity that will be hosted by the Tacloban division.
Activities include zumba, fun walk, ecumenical services, bloodletting, opening program, live bands, and DepEd “Hollywood Night.”
Among the free services to be offered are massage, hair and makeup, legal assistance, government insurance, housing, health insurance, employment services, and medical and dental checkups.
“We are negotiating with nearby establishments for 10-percent discounts for the teachers,” Quitalig said.
The celebration acknowledges the crucial role, loyal service and dedicated commitment of teachers in developing globally minded citizens, nurturing families, strengthening communities and building the nation.
It seeks to revitalize the image of the teaching profession as a vocation and stress the value of teachers in the Philippine society.
Public and private elementary and secondary schools that will not be able to join the regional celebration were asked to hold their own celebrations.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization proclaimed October 5 as World Teachers’ Day in 1994, celebrating the day when a special intergovernmental conference convened by Unesco in Paris adopted the Unesco/International Labor Organization recommendation concerning the status of teachers in 1996.
This recommendation sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers as well as international standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, teaching and learning conditions.
Since its adoption, the recommendation has been considered an important set of guidelines to promote teachers’ status in the interest of quality education, according to the UNESCO website.