Dubai Cares has launched a three-year programme that aims to enhance the skills of 17,000 teachers in 66 Ugandan provinces, as part of World Teachers Day, as well as to improve the level of education for around one million students in Uganda by 2020.

The programme, entitled, "The Teacher is a Change-Maker," aims to motivate teachers, enhance the academic skills of students, and promote the teaching profession.

The programme, costing AED4.4 million (US$1.2 million), was launched in co-operation with the Schools and Teachers Innovating for Results organisation, STIR, and will indirectly benefit over 988,000 Ugandan students and support their long-term education.

The programme also aims to create networks of teachers who are "change-makers," as well as active communities of local teachers, to enable them to exchange the necessary skills and knowledge, develop the local education system, and improve the current learning environment.

Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, stated that Dubai Cares believes that encouraging teachers will enhance the effectiveness of educational practices, which will improve the academic results of students. The programme aims to create a major movement led by teachers, to facilitate change in the current system, he added while highlighting the fact that there are 250 million children in elementary education around the world who cannot read or write correctly, which is due to the shortage of qualified teachers.