The 5th of October is World Teachers’ Day, a day on which teachers across the world are celebrated.

Throughout the month of October, the Western Cape Education Department will be acknowledging all our educators for making an ever-lasting impact on the lives of our learners, both past and present.

The teaching profession needs to be acknowledged for the important role it plays in the development and growth of any society. Teachers truly are the backbone of our society and should continuously be acknowledged for their contribution towards all the professions and occupations we have in our society today.

The WCED has launched a campaign with the hashtag #ThankATeacher, to encourage the public to thank a specific teacher that had an impact on their lives. We all remember a teacher(s) that affected our lives in a positive way, and we need to make sure our teachers know how much we appreciate this.

The WCED will, through the month of October, be promoting social media posts, radio ads and videos on various platforms and stations. Billboards displaying our 14 provincial Teaching Award winners have also been placed within the winners’ communities to highlight their success, the importance of their profession, and the valuable role they play within society.

Two videos have been produced as part of our campaign to highlight this important message.

(Available here: https://youtu.be/1tyBNMMXPQs(link is external) and https://youtu.be/HCXzcEysDA4(link is external))

We would also like to wish our 13 National Teaching Award finalists and our Best Learner Award finalist well for the National Teaching Awards ceremony to be held on Wednesday, 6 October 2021, from 09h00 in Gauteng. They have already made our province proud, and we are delighted to have them representing our province as finalists.

So once again – a big “Thank you” to all of our committed teachers that continue to inspire our future generation to greatness every day.

Source: Government of South Africa