Colombia Teacher's Day - May 15th

In Columbia, South America, the teacher’s day celebration is not as beautiful as other countries are preparing each year since the country is having some special concerns of the plight of teachers. However, every 15th of May most schools are still in their usual celebrations of the Columbia Teacher’s Day with lots of fun fare and activities.

The following are the usual events that unfold all over the country to still give teacher appreciation activities and honour the educator’s contribution in nation building.

School activities

Major schools in the country from kindergarten schools up to the tertiary levels have their own specialized activities. In high schools, the teachers are treated with song renditions from the school’s famous singers, special dances from modern to folk dancing, as well as dramatization and recitals of the student’s poetry pieces they dedicate to their teachers.

Teacher’s parties

Some private and public schools in the country sponsored special parties for their teachers. Columbian chefs prepare the best delicacies so that teachers can also eat their sumptuous meal of the night before the party winds up to ballroom dancing and awarding ceremonies to the most outstanding teachers. Some private organizations also give special awards to the teachers recognizing their great contribution to society.

Love Cards

Thousands of students flood love cards in classroom as a form of saying thanks and recognizing the efforts most teachers do to prepare the students to become worthwhile citizens of the nation. Some schools are not allowing students to send gifts but only nice greeting cards. School directors in other schools also invite teachers for lunch while some schools allow a half day duty to allow teachers to prepare for the teacher’s day celebration especially created to appreciate their contribution.

Teacher’s Foro

One of the most attended activities by teachers is the forum in the provinces. There are some concerns that teacher’s organizations is making solutions. There were reports that some teachers in the provinces were killed for still unknown reasons. Those teachers who were arrested, tortured, and killed were Rosalino Palacios Mosquera, a language teacher; Alberto Valencia Correa, primary school head; and Augusto Ramirez Atehortua.

Human rights organizations believe the killing of educators in the country would give a bad impact on education. The country has at least 1.7 million children who are poor and live in conflict areas and their parents cannot also afford to send them to school.