A service upon which the future of humanity depends

The following is the English text of the greeting extended to teachers and educators for World Teachers’ Day, by representatives of various religions who participated in the Vatican encounter on the Global Education Pact. We, the representatives of various religions, have met today, 5 October 2021, in Rome, to share our conviction on the importance of promoting worldwide a “pact for education”, which takes into account the expectations and challenges of our time. Based on our firm awareness that religions can be sources and advocates of fundamental values for humanity, and on our shared, mounting concern for today’s crisis in education, we address these greetings to all teachers and educators the world over, since it is by a happy coincidence that today’s date (5 October) has, since 1994, been designated by UNESCO as “World Teachers’ ...