Under the slogan chosen for 2020 “learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace”, we recall today the role of education as a fundamental human right, the lack of which would significantly affect the implementation of the other rights recognized by the UN assembly. We also know that education is our only tool for building a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable world.

Our commitment to schools goes far beyond school hours; we accept that, as influential actors in the next generation, we cannot simply teach a subject. In an increasingly dynamic and globalized world, transmitting values and critical thinking to our students is vital to having the healthy and balanced society we desire.

Being part of public education is a pride and honour for all of us who are part of the organisation and who fight for a more just, egalitarian and sustainable world. As teachers, we are inevitably dreamers and try to make our students into such. We dream of a world in which everyone has equal opportunities, and our only weapon is to educate them, so that they will be the responsible adults of tomorrow who will in turn take charge of the education of the next generation.

We hope to teach much more than English, we care and work to bring other worlds to our students, so that they have all possible points of view and they themselves decide their future, build their dreams and set their goals. We choose to teach English as a very useful tool for acquiring knowledge and having free access to information as well as a great platform for freedom of expression. We try to build references and examples that will support our students, to make them the dreamers who will strive to achieve their goals.

Our pride is immense in seeing the progress made in the classroom, but it is no small feeling to see the perspectives of many volunteers change when they first encounter the reality of teaching in schools. All of them come with a kindness to give, which when they start working they understand that it is not enough, but that it is necessary a much higher effort, empathy and knowledge, which most of them end up acquiring in their volunteering process.

We are very happy that the time spent volunteering is never enough for them, that they always want to stay longer and that they remember us. We believe we speak for everyone when we say that no one leaves as they came, because this professional growth in primary education necessarily entails personal growth influenced by the different environments in which we work and above all by the children we teach and learn from.

Education, like solidarity, is not unidirectional, but horizontal and feedback, in which all actors involved grow and learn. If we dream of a more just world as we said before, we must first improve ourselves and lead by example, listen rather than talk and absorb all perspectives while sharing our own. Today we thank all our students for showing us the way to a better way of educating, showing us what their concerns and passions are.

Thanks to all these little teachers, for whose future we will continue to work untirelessly