“If we, in Mauritius, are where we are today, it is largely because of the role teachers have played in shaping the destiny of those innumerable men and women who, in turn, have shaped the destiny of the nation. It is the teaching community that has enabled Mauritius to be recognized for its thriving democracy and its major economic and socio-cultural strides,” says minister of Education, Leela Devi Dookun Luchoomun in her address to teachers for World Teachers Day.

On the occasion of the World Teachers’ Day, I am very pleased to forward this, my first message, to you as Minister entrusted with the portfolio of Education and Training. 

Most countries of the world are, in fact, celebrating this Day that has been placed in 2015 under the theme “Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies”.

This Day has a special and deeper layer of meaning to me since I, too, have been an educator and have worked as a teacher for a sufficiently long time. I can appreciate your efforts towards the promotion of learning and learner development.   

Further than that, if we, in Mauritius, are where we are today, it is largely because of the role teachers have played in shaping the destiny of those innumerable men and women who, in turn, have shaped the destiny of the nation. It is the teaching community that has enabled Mauritius to be recognized for its thriving democracy and its major economic and socio-cultural strides. 

2015 is a turning point in the history of education. It witnesses the bringing to a close of the Education for All (EFA) agenda that the world adopted in Dakar in 2000. It also heralds the adoption of the new Education 2030 goal by the global community at the UN in September this year. Education 2030 that forms Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims, as we all know by now, at “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all.”  

The reforms that we are embarking upon right across the educational subsectors fit in well and are aligned to this new mandate the world has given to itself. Our education system has indeed to respond to a series of existing and emerging challenges, including improving learning outcomes, enabling students’ mastery of competencies appropriate for their grade level as well as achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Your role, dear Teachers, in this exciting enterprise is pre-eminent. 

I am the first to recognize that you have to be fully empowered to act as change agents.  I am also fully alive to the need for you to receive– high-quality training and capacity building opportunities on an on-going basis so that you can spearhead new pedagogical approaches in the classroom. Traditional teaching methodologies will have to give way to new ones as our children now have different learning expectations in this increasingly digitised environment we are living in.

As Educators, you are equally the ones to successfully inculcate a sound value and belief system in our children. Teachers make it possible for the latter to imbibe and live by values such as integrity and respect for the rights of others. You develop in them life skills that contribute to the building of their character, thus enabling them to grow as responsible citizens. 

The onus therefore lies upon you, Educators, to participate actively in the sustainable development agenda of our country. The reforms in the education system that my ministry is engaged in are, in fact, an intrinsic part of this national agenda. I trust you to fully participate and equip our learners with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to make of our society a sustainable one.

On this propitious occasion of the World Teachers’ Day, let us all pledge not to compromise on our efforts to safeguard the future of our children. Let us all together join hands to give our country an upcoming citizenry that can communicate across cultures and borders and can develop creative and sustainable solutions for the wellbeing of one and all.