Every year on World Teachers Day, we celebrate the limitless contributions made by teachers around the world. Day after day, year in and year out, these dedicated women and men guide and accompany students through the world of learning, helping them discover and fulfill their potential. In doing so, teachers not only help shape the individual futures of millions of children; they also help shape a better world for all.

　　每年的世界教师日，我们均向世界各地的教师们致敬，向他们作出的无穷贡献致敬。日复一日，年复一年，这些具有奉献精神的园丁们，在求知的道路上引导且陪伴着莘莘学子，帮助他们发现并发挥自己的潜能。教师们的辛勤劳动，不仅有利于塑造千百万儿童个人的未来，也有利于塑造一个更加美好的世界。

　　The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development makes this critical connection between education and development. By adopting Sustainable Development Goal 4, world leaders pledged to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This goal cannot be achieved unless we increase the supply of qualified teachers and empower them to be agents of educational change in the lives of the students they teach.

　　《2030年可持续发展议程》把教育和发展紧密结合起来。世界领导人通过采纳可持续发展目标4，承诺“确保包容和公平的优质教育，让全民终身享有学习机会”。实现这一目标，有赖于我们增加合格教师的师资来源并提高教师们的能力，使他们能够在自己学生们的生活中发挥教育变革推动者的作用。

　　The situation is urgent. To achieve universal primary education by 2030, we need 24.4 million more teachers. The number is even greater for secondary education with 44.4 million secondary school teachers needed.

　　形势紧迫。为了在2030年实现普及初等教育，我们需要增加2440万名教师。中等教育的需求则更大，需要增加 4440万名中学教师。

　　How can we recruit these new teachers and attract them to the vital profession of teaching when around the world, so many teachers are undertrained, underpaid and undervalued?

　　放眼世界各地，还有那么多教师面临着培训不足、薪酬不足、受重视程度不足的局面，我们如何可以招募到新教师、把他们吸引到教书育人这一重要职业中来?

　　Many teachers still work with inadequate contracts and pay. They often live in difficult conditions, and lack appropriate initial training, continuous professional development, and consistent support. They are sometimes victims of discrimination and even violent attacks.

　　许多教师依旧在没有适当合同和薪酬的情况下工作着。他们经常身处困境，缺少适当的入职培训、持续的职业发展以及一贯性的支持。他们有时还遭受歧视，甚至成为暴力袭击的对象。

　　Teaching could be an attractive, first-choice profession – if teachers were valued commensurate with the immense value they provide to our children, and if their professional status as educators reflected the enormous impact their profession has on our shared future.

　　如果教师们在教书育人方面所创造的无穷价值能够与他们的待遇相称，如果他们作为教育工作者的职业地位能反映出这一职业对我们共同的未来所具有的巨大影响，教师这个职业可以成为一个有吸引力的、首选的职业。

　　That means providing them with continuing training and development to support them in their critical role of educating all children, in all contexts – including the poorest, most remote communities, and in communities in crisis. It means compensating them properly and giving them the tools they need to do their indispensable jobs. It means putting in place policies that safeguard and reinforce the status of teachers – beginning by giving teachers a place at the table and an active role in decision-making that affects their work. And it means improving the efficiency and effectiveness of education systems at every level.

　　这意味着要向他们提供继续培训和职业发展机会，支持他们在所有环境下——包括在最贫穷、最偏远社区以及危境社区——发挥教育所有孩子的关键作用。这意味着要给予他们适当的补偿，给他们配备开展其不可或缺工作所必需的工具。这意味着要制定旨在捍卫和提高教师地位的政策，其开端可以是在与教育有关的决策中给教师提供一席之地并发挥其积极作用。这也意味着要提高各级教育系统的效率和效力。

　　Fifty years ago today, these principles were laid down in the landmark 1966 UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which resulted in the first international standard-setting instrument on teachers. Since that day, we have made tremendous progress in elevating the status of teachers – but far more work remains to be done.

　　五十年前的今天，这些原则在具有里程碑意义的 1966年教科文组织和国际劳工组织《关于教师地位的建议书》中被规定下来，由此产生了关于教师的第一个国际准则性文件。从那一天起，我们在提高教师地位方面取得了巨大的进步，但还有更多的工作有待完成。

　　We dedicate World Teachers’ Day 2016 to celebrating this milestone by reaffirming our commitment to the standards and aspirations it represents – and by redoubling our efforts to achieve them. The teachers of the world – and the children of the world – deserve nothing less.

　　我们将2016年世界教师日敬献给这座里程碑，借此重申我们对《建议书》所代表的标准和希冀的承诺，我们将加倍努力使之成为现实。这是我们对全世界教师以及全世界儿童的承诺。

（编辑：何莹莹）