Santiago
Chile
Deputy Secretary-General's remarks at the World Summit on Teachers [as prepared for delivery]
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
His Excellency Gabriel Boric, President of Chile
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO
Mr. Mugwena Maluleke, President of Education International
Excellencies, teachers, and friends,
It is a privilege to join you here in Santiago for this World Summit on Teachers.
I offer my deep appreciation to the Government of Chile, UNESCO, Education International, and all partners who made this gathering possible.
We are honoured to gather in a country led by President Gabriel Boric, whose own journey brought him from fighting alongside fellow students for the fundamental right to quality education, to now leading a nation. His path reminds us that those who understand education's transformative power often become its most passionate advocates.
It is also deeply fitting that we gather here in Santiago, in the country that gave the world Gabriela Mistral.
She began teaching at just fifteen years old and went on to become Latin America's first Nobel laureate in literature. Mistral demonstrated what we are discussing today: that teachers are catalysts of human potential.
Our commitment to accelerate our journey to keep the promise of the SDGs began at the Transforming Education Summit, convened by the Secretary-General, in 2022. That pivotal moment laid the groundwork for action in five essential areas: inclusive schools, learning and skills, digital transformation, education financing, and crucially, it recognized that transforming education is impossible without transforming the teaching profession.
The Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession brought together governments, UNESCO, teacher organizations, youth, and experts, and last year, it delivered landmark recommendations, a blueprint to recruit, train, and retain teachers everywhere.
But the gap between our ambition and delivery is widening.
Yes, more children are now in school than at any point in history, but that masks the reality - progress is deeply uneven and hundreds of millions are left behind.
Consider that just three per cent of school-age children and young people are out of school in high-income countries.
Whereas, in low-income countries, it’s a full 36 per cent – over a third of all children. Over half of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
And just five hotspots account for nearly half of the 85 million children out of school due to crises: Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In my own home country, I once tried to convince a Minister of Education - herself a former teacher - about the shocking conditions of classroom facing students and teachers. The only way to break through to her was to bring her into a real classroom and ask her to teach a lesson.
Within fifteen minutes, she was overwhelmed: horrified by the potholes in the floor, the 140 children crammed together in one classroom, and all without any water or toilet facilities. The shock on her face reminded me that the disconnect between the policymakers and the classroom is precisely why so many reforms fail.
Too often, reforms also fail because they overlook culture. UNESCO has shown us that with madrasas in Indonesia, success came from addressing religious and cultural realities directly, an important lesson as we continue to try to effect change in Afghanistan where education for women and girls is banned.
These stories may be rooted in specific places and diverse and complex realities, but they reflect a universal challenge. Around the world, teachers are overburdened, under supported, and too few in number.
To meet our commitment to quality education by 2030, the world must recruit 44 million teachers – more than double the entire population of Chile – equipped with the right skills, knowledge, and professional discipline to help every learner to succeed.
Instead, we are reversing our gains.
Gender inequality deserves special attention because it strikes at the heart of this vocation. Teaching is a profession dominated by women. They educate other people's children by day while shouldering the bulk of caregiving at home. Too many talented female teachers are forced to pause or leave their careers to care for their own families.
At the same time, we are living longer, healthier lives. This time is a gift, but it also increases the pressure on teachers nurturing lifelong learners.
Too many young teachers are leaving within their first years because of low pay, heavy workloads, limited professional development, lack of technological training, and in many places, the neglect of the value of the teacher; a lack of recognition that demotivates and paralyses.
Ultimately, we are asking the impossible of teachers: to build the future without the tools, trust and conditions they need.
This exodus of talent comes at a time when we can least afford it.
Recruiting the teachers we need demands around 120 billion dollars annually in salaries by 2030, yet the financing gap is staggering.
In too many countries, debt servicing is strangling investment. More than 40 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where governments spend more on debt interest payments than on education or health.
Aid to education is projected to drop by a quarter between 2023 and 2027. It already fell 12 percent last year. We need urgent action to close this gap and scale up innovative financing to mobilize more resources.
We face a stark choice: either act decisively now, or watch the teaching crisis deepen. That choice comes down to five areas of action.
First, elevate the profession. Implement the High-Level Panel’s recommendations in full: fair pay, stable contracts, safe workplaces, manageable class sizes, investment in upskilling and reskilling, and clear career pathways.
Second, finance. Countries must make education a first charge on their national budgets. That means protecting and expanding domestic education funding. Debt relief and affordable finance are essential to sustain teacher recruitment. And we should consider a Global Fund for Teachers in Emergencies to support salaries in crisis situations, like pandemics, so learning does not collapse when shocks hit.
Third, advance gender equality and dignity. In many countries, the teaching workforce is almost entirely women, yet in spite of that, women are often absent from decision-making. Recognising and elevating women’s leadership strengthens systems and improves outcomes for every child.
Fourth, we must put teachers at the centre of an inclusive digital transition. We are entering a new era where AI will fundamentally reshape the job market. If we don't know what we're training students for, how can we prepare them? The tools of teaching are changing before our eyes. Too many classrooms remain unequipped to serve children with disabilities, and teachers lack the confidence to harness technology's potential. We must invest in training that transforms teachers into confident co-creators of digital tools designed for all learners. UNESCO's global guidance on generative AI in education has set important guardrails for the future of teaching and learning by prioritizing human agency.
Fifth, we must support teachers where it is hardest.
Today, in Gaza, UNRWA teachers have been killed while trying to educate children. In Sudan, teachers huddle with students as violence creeps closer and closer. In Ukraine, educators conduct lessons in bomb shelters and basements. Across dozens of conflict zones worldwide, schools lie in rubble while teachers risk everything to keep learning alive.
These educators are creating pockets of normalcy for children, with many paying the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them more than our admiration - we owe them protection, resources, and unwavering support to continue this noble work.
This Summit must also be about accountability.
We know what works.
We know what it will cost.
We have a roadmap.
What the world needs now is not new promises but delivery.
Let’s solidify the outcomes of this Summit into actions to advance at the World Social Summit in Doha this November.
National teacher compacts with time-bound targets on recruitment, retention and pay, aligned to SDG4 plans.
A financing track for teachers that maximises aid, brings in concessional resources, and links debt swaps to teacher investments, backed by transparent tracking.
A teacher-led digital pact to set standards for AI and ed-tech that put pedagogy first, with funded training for teachers as leaders of digital learning.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Quality education is the foundation of everything we hope to achieve with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda: healthy lives, a healthy planet, opportunities, a sense of belonging, equality and peace.
Without teachers, none of it is possible.
Teachers also help build the workforce of tomorrow with the skills for decent work in the new era of digital and green transformation. That is why the United Nations is advancing the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.
Teachers shape every generation that follows.
They enable every learner to realize their potential.
They nurture curiosity, inspire confidence.
In every classroom, teachers are making choices that ripple through decades, and the quality of their work becomes the quality of our future.
Their influence is in the DNA of every forest saved, every bridge built, every poem written, every right demanded, every peaceful election held.
We must respond to those truths.
Teachers are the beating heart of education, the cornerstone of sustainable development, and the guardians of our future – we must support them.
Let us honour their influence with the policies and the respect that teachers need, and future generations deserve.
The task is urgent.
In the words of Gabriela Mistral, “Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Nowis the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.”
Thank you.
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO
Mr. Mugwena Maluleke, President of Education International
Excellencies, teachers, and friends,
It is a privilege to join you here in Santiago for this World Summit on Teachers.
I offer my deep appreciation to the Government of Chile, UNESCO, Education International, and all partners who made this gathering possible.
We are honoured to gather in a country led by President Gabriel Boric, whose own journey brought him from fighting alongside fellow students for the fundamental right to quality education, to now leading a nation. His path reminds us that those who understand education's transformative power often become its most passionate advocates.
It is also deeply fitting that we gather here in Santiago, in the country that gave the world Gabriela Mistral.
She began teaching at just fifteen years old and went on to become Latin America's first Nobel laureate in literature. Mistral demonstrated what we are discussing today: that teachers are catalysts of human potential.
Our commitment to accelerate our journey to keep the promise of the SDGs began at the Transforming Education Summit, convened by the Secretary-General, in 2022. That pivotal moment laid the groundwork for action in five essential areas: inclusive schools, learning and skills, digital transformation, education financing, and crucially, it recognized that transforming education is impossible without transforming the teaching profession.
The Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession brought together governments, UNESCO, teacher organizations, youth, and experts, and last year, it delivered landmark recommendations, a blueprint to recruit, train, and retain teachers everywhere.
But the gap between our ambition and delivery is widening.
Yes, more children are now in school than at any point in history, but that masks the reality - progress is deeply uneven and hundreds of millions are left behind.
Consider that just three per cent of school-age children and young people are out of school in high-income countries.
Whereas, in low-income countries, it’s a full 36 per cent – over a third of all children. Over half of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
And just five hotspots account for nearly half of the 85 million children out of school due to crises: Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In my own home country, I once tried to convince a Minister of Education - herself a former teacher - about the shocking conditions of classroom facing students and teachers. The only way to break through to her was to bring her into a real classroom and ask her to teach a lesson.
Within fifteen minutes, she was overwhelmed: horrified by the potholes in the floor, the 140 children crammed together in one classroom, and all without any water or toilet facilities. The shock on her face reminded me that the disconnect between the policymakers and the classroom is precisely why so many reforms fail.
Too often, reforms also fail because they overlook culture. UNESCO has shown us that with madrasas in Indonesia, success came from addressing religious and cultural realities directly, an important lesson as we continue to try to effect change in Afghanistan where education for women and girls is banned.
These stories may be rooted in specific places and diverse and complex realities, but they reflect a universal challenge. Around the world, teachers are overburdened, under supported, and too few in number.
To meet our commitment to quality education by 2030, the world must recruit 44 million teachers – more than double the entire population of Chile – equipped with the right skills, knowledge, and professional discipline to help every learner to succeed.
Instead, we are reversing our gains.
Gender inequality deserves special attention because it strikes at the heart of this vocation. Teaching is a profession dominated by women. They educate other people's children by day while shouldering the bulk of caregiving at home. Too many talented female teachers are forced to pause or leave their careers to care for their own families.
At the same time, we are living longer, healthier lives. This time is a gift, but it also increases the pressure on teachers nurturing lifelong learners.
Too many young teachers are leaving within their first years because of low pay, heavy workloads, limited professional development, lack of technological training, and in many places, the neglect of the value of the teacher; a lack of recognition that demotivates and paralyses.
Ultimately, we are asking the impossible of teachers: to build the future without the tools, trust and conditions they need.
This exodus of talent comes at a time when we can least afford it.
Recruiting the teachers we need demands around 120 billion dollars annually in salaries by 2030, yet the financing gap is staggering.
In too many countries, debt servicing is strangling investment. More than 40 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where governments spend more on debt interest payments than on education or health.
Aid to education is projected to drop by a quarter between 2023 and 2027. It already fell 12 percent last year. We need urgent action to close this gap and scale up innovative financing to mobilize more resources.
We face a stark choice: either act decisively now, or watch the teaching crisis deepen. That choice comes down to five areas of action.
First, elevate the profession. Implement the High-Level Panel’s recommendations in full: fair pay, stable contracts, safe workplaces, manageable class sizes, investment in upskilling and reskilling, and clear career pathways.
Second, finance. Countries must make education a first charge on their national budgets. That means protecting and expanding domestic education funding. Debt relief and affordable finance are essential to sustain teacher recruitment. And we should consider a Global Fund for Teachers in Emergencies to support salaries in crisis situations, like pandemics, so learning does not collapse when shocks hit.
Third, advance gender equality and dignity. In many countries, the teaching workforce is almost entirely women, yet in spite of that, women are often absent from decision-making. Recognising and elevating women’s leadership strengthens systems and improves outcomes for every child.
Fourth, we must put teachers at the centre of an inclusive digital transition. We are entering a new era where AI will fundamentally reshape the job market. If we don't know what we're training students for, how can we prepare them? The tools of teaching are changing before our eyes. Too many classrooms remain unequipped to serve children with disabilities, and teachers lack the confidence to harness technology's potential. We must invest in training that transforms teachers into confident co-creators of digital tools designed for all learners. UNESCO's global guidance on generative AI in education has set important guardrails for the future of teaching and learning by prioritizing human agency.
Fifth, we must support teachers where it is hardest.
Today, in Gaza, UNRWA teachers have been killed while trying to educate children. In Sudan, teachers huddle with students as violence creeps closer and closer. In Ukraine, educators conduct lessons in bomb shelters and basements. Across dozens of conflict zones worldwide, schools lie in rubble while teachers risk everything to keep learning alive.
These educators are creating pockets of normalcy for children, with many paying the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them more than our admiration - we owe them protection, resources, and unwavering support to continue this noble work.
This Summit must also be about accountability.
We know what works.
We know what it will cost.
We have a roadmap.
What the world needs now is not new promises but delivery.
Let’s solidify the outcomes of this Summit into actions to advance at the World Social Summit in Doha this November.
National teacher compacts with time-bound targets on recruitment, retention and pay, aligned to SDG4 plans.
A financing track for teachers that maximises aid, brings in concessional resources, and links debt swaps to teacher investments, backed by transparent tracking.
A teacher-led digital pact to set standards for AI and ed-tech that put pedagogy first, with funded training for teachers as leaders of digital learning.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Quality education is the foundation of everything we hope to achieve with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda: healthy lives, a healthy planet, opportunities, a sense of belonging, equality and peace.
Without teachers, none of it is possible.
Teachers also help build the workforce of tomorrow with the skills for decent work in the new era of digital and green transformation. That is why the United Nations is advancing the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.
Teachers shape every generation that follows.
They enable every learner to realize their potential.
They nurture curiosity, inspire confidence.
In every classroom, teachers are making choices that ripple through decades, and the quality of their work becomes the quality of our future.
Their influence is in the DNA of every forest saved, every bridge built, every poem written, every right demanded, every peaceful election held.
We must respond to those truths.
Teachers are the beating heart of education, the cornerstone of sustainable development, and the guardians of our future – we must support them.
Let us honour their influence with the policies and the respect that teachers need, and future generations deserve.
The task is urgent.
In the words of Gabriela Mistral, “Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Nowis the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.”
Thank you.