October 5th is UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day which honours the pivotal role teachers play in shaping the future by nurturing students and driving educational progress.
Teaching as a profession has been around for millennia, and not just focussed on those whose sole work has been the act of educating. As ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá wrote: “For mothers are the first educators, the first mentors; and truly it is the mothers who determine the happiness, the future greatness, the courteous ways and learning and judgement, the understanding and the faith of their little ones.” Mothers may be the first educators, but family members and elders of the community have all been important, through oral lessons, stories, music, hands-on skill learning, and practical experience in addition to formalized learning activities. This was the way of things for eons, until it was determined that education needed to become formalized and accessible. As it has been seen, and experienced in history, education was compartmentalized and ‘classified’. But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stipulated that: “There can be no improvement unless the girls are brought up in schools and centres of learning, unless they are taught the sciences and other branches of knowledge, and unless they acquire the manifold arts, as necessary, and are divinely trained. For the day will come when these girls will become mothers.”
The Universal House of Justice wrote: “Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children.” Also…”[…] proper education can help children to broaden their horizons and set their sights on the advancement and glory of their nation. And when their breadth of vision expands even wider, they will undoubtedly come to see the progress of the entire human race and the furtherance of the true interests of all the peoples of the world as a guiding purpose of their lives.”
Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.” He specified that: “Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being and are conductive to this exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to a man’s life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone.”
Give them (the children) the advantage of every useful kind of knowledge. Let them share in every new and rare and wondrous craft and art. Bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import, and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind. ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá
The education and training of children is among the most meritorious acts of humankind and draweth down the grace and favor of the All-Merciful, for education is the indispensable foundation of all human excellence and alloweth man to work his way to the heights of abiding glory. ‘Abdu’l-Baha
“Blessed is that teacher who shall arise to instruct the children, and to guide the people into the pathways of God, the Bestower, the Well-Beloved.” Bahá’u’lláh