A new report says the world needs another 69 million teachers by 2030. The United Nations (UN) agency UNESCO made a promise that every child in the world would get a primary and secondary education in the next 14 years. UNESCO says a lot of work needs to be done to find those teachers. The biggest numbers are needed in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. At the moment, UNESCO says there are "massive shortages" of teachers. There are currently 263 million children who do not go to school. Around 25 million of these might never go.
The UN warns there are shortages of teachers in countries with rising populations. This makes it harder to find enough teachers as there are more children. The UN says that without "urgent action" things will get worse. UNESCO is also worried about the quality of teachers. In countries like Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, fewer than 60 per cent of primary school teachers are trained. There are also worries about class sizes. The UN says: "In countries like Malawi, it is common to find over 100 children in classes….This has been a [non-stop] problem for many years."
