Ouahigouya: A lecture in tribute to the teacher was organized on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at the Naaba Tigr© high school dedicated to internally displaced students of Titao in Ouahigouya, to celebrate the Student Teacher Recognition Week (SRE), initiated by the Burkinabe state to better promote the role of the teacher.
According to Burkina Information Agency, the conference held on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, provided an opportunity to revisit the role and place of teachers in society and strategies for revaluing the profession. For the speaker, Abdoul Salam Ouarma, a professor, the teacher was once the benchmark and guide in society. “The teacher was seen as the pivot of the village. Everything revolved around him. He was the teacher, the nurse, the mason, the trainer, the cultural assistant, the village’s public writer. It was to him that the village turned in times of need,” he said.
Ouarma highlighted that this trust in teachers meant that, upon gaining independence, many countries entrusted their destiny to teachers. “Teachers were involved in all the struggles to raise awareness and emancipate people. We can cite the case of Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly in Burkina Faso, Modibo K©ita in Mali, Amani Diori in Niger, and Hubert Manga in Benin,” the speaker maintained. He added that teachers are no longer valued as they should be these days.
Abdoul Salam Ouarma commended the government’s initiative to magnify teachers for quality education. At the end of the conference, students paid tribute to their teachers through poems, slams, songs, and other messages. The principal of the Pierre Azette Municipal High School in Titao, Mathieu Zoundi, who is also responsible for the site, said that the teacher goes beyond the simple transmission of knowledge and skills to take care of the comprehensive education of the child. “This week will help restore the teacher’s image,” he said.
Student Moubarak Tao explained that good deeds must be done toward teachers so that they have the courage and pleasure to teach their students. Student Mamounata Konf©, for her part, believed that teachers are like parents. “They are the ones who make us the men of tomorrow. We must respect them,” she concluded.