An installation of heart-shaped school bags was unveiled Monday to mark World Teacher’s Day as a show of gratitude for teachers for the critical role they play in delivering quality education and supporting children fulfil their potential.
The event, which saw addresses by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Minister of Education and Science Mila Carovska, Deputy Education Minister Arafat Shabani, and UNICEF Representative to the country, Patrizia Di Giovanni, is part of a campaign of the Education Ministry and UNICEF, due to take place throughout the 2020/2021 school year.
Addressing the event, Zaev said the school year will be very different from all others before. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year measures enforced to protect the health of children and teachers are in place in schools. The curricula of several generations of students is being organized online. The Ministry of Education and Science and all relevant stakeholders in the government are in contact everyday with teachers, principals, students and parents in order to make the new educational online platform more friendly and to provide equal access for all children,” he stated.
The huge commitment of teachers, the PM said, their efforts, enthusiasm, and sense of social responsibility is what gives hope that their students will be provided with the education they deserve.
“Having found ourselves in this situation, we all have to show solidarity and understanding throughout the process. It’s important we all adhered to the measures for protection so as to complete this school year and make sure it is the last one of its kind,” PM Zaev said in his address.
Minister Carovska called it a ‘historic day’ because the Teacher’s Day is marked in the midst of a pandemic.
“To be a teacher today, it means to be part of global changes brought about the current developments. To be a teacher today, it means to be not only a partner in the classroom, but also a support, motivation, a leader and an innovator of new ways to work at schools,” said Carovska.
Praising teachers for their ‘unselfish help for not only children, but also for the families and parents as well,’ she said they have shown high awareness for social responsibility, commitment and courage to face reality and to find solutions to the problems standing in their way.
At the ceremony, Di Giovanni said UNICEF school bags around the world and in the country are used as a symbol of hope and optimism for everything the education system gives.
According to her, the country even before the COVID crisis has been facing difficulties in the education system, including more than half of students unable to deliver potentials on basic knowledge of math and literacy.
It is due, she said, to several factors, such as digital tools, the teacher-student relationship, curricula, etc. The most important factor, playing a decisive role for the achievements of students is teachers and their motivation, stressed Di Giovanni.
The school bags installation in Skopje’s main square will be available in the next three days. Visitors can write personal message as a show of support for teachers.
