How many teachers are needed to help every child realise their right to a primary education?
Universal primary education (UPE) will remain a distant dream for millions of children living in countries without enough teachers in classrooms. Current discussions of the post-2015 development agenda include a target to bolster the supply and training of teachers as part of efforts to ensure that every child learns in a stimulating and supportive classroom environment.
To help formulate and monitor possible post-2015 education targets, the UIS has released a new set of projections of the demand and supply of primary teachers at the global and national levels. According to the data, countries will need to recruit a total of 4 million teachers to achieve universal primary education by 2015. Of this total, 2.6 million will replace teachers who retire, change occupations or leave the workforce due to illness or death. The remaining 1.4 million will be needed to universalise access to primary education and underwrite quality by ensuring that there are not more than 40 students for every teacher.
