Overview

• Observed annually on October 5 since 1994, the day traces to the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation that set global benchmarks for teachers’ rights and working conditions.
• The 2025 theme, “Recasting teaching as a collaborative profession,” calls for moving beyond isolated classroom work toward shared practice and peer support.
• UNESCO and partners frame the focus as structural reforms that provide time and systems for collaboration to counter isolation, limited development, burnout and turnover.
• Global celebrations include a major event at the Pan‑African Conference on Teacher Education in Addis Ababa with statements from senior agency representatives and an African Union-led ministerial discussion.
• More than 100 countries mark the day in various ways, and India separately observes a national Teachers’ Day on September 5 in honor of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.