Apr 25, 2006, 19:04 GMT
Johannesburg/New York - An acute shortage of teachers in sub-Saharan Africa and Arab countries is threatening the education goals set by the world community for 2015, according to a new study published Tuesday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The study said that as many as 18 million additional teachers were needed worldwide to meet the United Nations Millenium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education by the middle of the next decade.
Sub-Saharan Africa alone needs to increase the number of its teachers by 1.6 million, or 68 per cent, to meet the goal of a primary school education for all children in the vast region.
Arab nations, foremost Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia needed to create 450,000 new teachers, a 26 per cent increase, within the next nine years, with a similar requirement determined in south and west Asia.
But the UNESCO study said that China, Brazil and India needed to reduce their number of teachers as school-age populations were declining, allowing those country's to place extra resources in improving the level of education provided.
North America and Western Europe have a shortage in specialized teachers, particularly in mathematics and sciences, because old teachers were retiring and new recruits were less concerned about a long-term career in education, the study said.
Ireland, the United States and Spain would need 1.2 million new primary school teachers in the next decade to replace retirees.
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