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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2002

News Release

NEA to Celebrate World Teachers' Day

Saturday, October 5 is a universal day of appreciation

Washington, D.C. - The importance of dialogue - and the role teachers play in promoting it - will be front and center Saturday, October 5, when the National Education Association joins more than 300 teachers' unions worldwide in celebrating World Teachers' Day (WTD).

"Teachers Create Dialogue Every Day," the theme of WTD 2002, was developed by the 25,000,000-member Education International, the international organization of 311 national teacher unions, and UNESCO. Now in its ninth year, this EI-driven event has evolved into a public awareness campaign, a show of appreciation for the more than 55 million teachers worldwide. It praises teachers as guardians of the democratic process and promoters of dialogue, understanding, mutual respect and solidarity.

Each participating WTD union will hold its own celebration. NEA, one of the largest WTD participants, will commemorate World Teachers' Day when its Board of Directors meets October 5. NEA President Reg Weaver will speak about the role educators play in creating and fostering dialogue.

Elsewhere, the Albanian union, FSAH, will hold a national day of activities featuring the Minister of Education. In Gambia, GTU will stage a debate featuring teachers and other education workers. Liberia's NTAL will feature a teacher/student parade and deliver a petition on education to the Government. Teacher of the Year awards will be presented in Anguilla, Bahamas, Bermuda, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Thailand.

Some of the participating unions will use WTD to bring their own issues to the forefront - the right to organize and bargain collectively in Taiwan, quality education in primary schools in Korea and an international conference on youth in the Russian Federation. In Canada, the CTF will launch a fundraising campaign to support education in refugee camps in Pakistan.

To find out more about NEA's international activities, go to www.nea.org/international.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.