From low wages to deteriorating working conditions, and from Germany to Niger, passing through the United States, the teaching profession suffers from great difficulties in attracting teachers in a large number of countries in the world, in a phenomenon that has worsened since the Corona epidemic crisis.
A document by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) published last October speaks of a shortage of 69 million teachers around the world to achieve "universal basic education by 2030."
Eric Charbonnier, an education expert at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, says, "The Covid-19 crisis revealed the importance of the teaching profession, and as a result, the issue of the attractiveness of the profession that existed before has gained importance."
Europe and the West
"We have 4,000 vacancies for teachers this year in France, which is an increasing number, but the situation is not better anywhere else," he added.
In France, unprecedented difficulties in hiring prompted French Senator Gerard Longuet to extend the deadline for registration in competitions for the start of the 2023 academic year by two weeks last November until today, Friday, due to a lack of candidates.
In a report he submitted last June, the right-winger Longuet spoke at the European level of the "attractiveness of the teaching profession" as "a general problem for countries, regardless of the level of wages."
French estimates indicate that there will be a shortage of 25,000 teachers by 2025 in Germany, for example, and 30,000 in Portugal by 2030.
Charbonnier adds that Germany, Portugal, Sweden and Italy are facing "a large retirement wave, which will exacerbate the problem."
In detail, at the primary school level, 60% of teachers are over the age of fifty in Italy, and this percentage is 37% in Germany, 42% in Portugal, 36% in Sweden, and 23% in France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Various reasons can be pointed out, according to Reggie Malle, professor of educational sciences at the University of Bordeaux, among them "the low level of wages, especially in France, as well as the deterioration of working conditions and legal conditions, in addition to a dimension that has a strong significance that appears clearly, which is the lack of consideration and appreciation."
Malet, a member of the University Institute of France, told Agence France-Presse that in a number of countries - especially in France - the transition has taken place "from a profession with a high social added value and prestige to a form of uncertainty in the required tasks, a loss of meaning and, finally, a conflict" between school and life. .
Other continents suffer from this deficiency as well, including the Middle East and North Africa.
Arab countries
In Egypt, the teacher shortage crisis takes a more complex turn, with the population exceeding 104 million, the number of students increasing to 24.4 million, or about a quarter of the country's population, and the insufficiency of teachers due to weak government spending on education.
For the first time, and after many years of the teacher shortage crisis - which is one of the most intractable crises and raises constant criticism of the state - the Egyptian government decided to draw up a "five-year" plan to bridge the huge deficit, which is estimated at about 30%, a decision that represents a violation of the strict directives of the authority to prevent government employment. Since years.
The Ministry of Education estimates indicate that there is a shortage in the number of teachers that exceeds 320,000 teachers. To overcome this crisis, the Ministry decided to hire teachers temporarily to fill the deficit in schools, so that the value does not exceed 20 pounds per class (about one dollar), provided that the deficit is limited. The actual study in majors in basic academic subjects in each educational department, according to a previous report by Al-Jazeera Net that dealt with the teacher shortage crisis in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia.
In Jordan, the Ministry of Education resorts to appointing male and female teachers on the supplementary education system with quarterly contracts for a period of 4 months, to fill the shortage in the number of teachers in government schools at the level of the Kingdom, according to the ministry.
The total shortage in the number of teachers, after being counted in the education directorates in the governorates of the Kingdom for the current academic year, reached 10,000 male and female teachers, according to Ahmed Al-Masafah, Director of Media at the Ministry of Education.
Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, "there is, on average, one qualified teacher for every 56 pupils at the primary level, and one qualified teacher for 55 pupils at the secondary level," Berhan Chakroun, director of the Department of Education Policies and Systems at UNESCO, told AFP.
Chakroun added that by 2030, "Chad and Niger will have to double the number of primary school teachers they have."
In this part of the world, he added, the number of teachers being hired is "less than current and projected needs, and an additional 16.5 million teachers must be recruited by 2030."
The United States is witnessing an "unprecedented" crisis, according to Eric Charbonnier, and at the end of last August, The Washington Post reported on a "catastrophic shortage", explaining that the country "has never witnessed a situation of this degree of danger."
The OECD expert stressed that the shortage of teachers is "an issue of concern that must be addressed".
He added that "Finland, South Korea and Ireland are doing well thanks to policies based on volunteering with appreciation of the profession by society."
In France, consultations began to increase teachers' salaries last October, which is supposed to end in late February or early March.