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Another day set aside for commemorating teachers in India and Nepal is Guru Purnima, also called 'Ashad sukla purnima'. It typically falls in mid-July.
The government first proclaimed Teachers' Day in 1985, but has never clearly explained why it should fall on September 10. Some people believe it was an arbitrary choice and have proposed to change it to September 28, which is believed to be Confucius's birthday. On Sep. 5, 2013, the State Council announced a legislative draft endorsing the change. If adopted, it would effectively make mainland China and Taiwan share the same Teachers' Day beginning in 2014. Taiwan has observed September 28 as Teachers' Day since the 1950s.[7]
The first Teacher’s Day was celebrated on May 15, 1918. The date of May 15 was proposed at the Mexican Congress on September 27, 1917, approved on October 29, 1917 and published on December 5, 1917. There are several possible origins for choosing this date. The first one mentions that in the city of San Luis Potosí every May 15, a group of students gathered to celebrate the birthday of their old teacher Isidore. This teacher was named after Saint Isidore the Laborer, following the Mexican tradition of naming children according the Saint celebrated the day they were born. The second origin considers the celebration of a historic event in the city of Querétaro on May 15, 1867.[14]
Students pay homage to the teachers, offer them foods and flowers and receive blessings from the teacher. "Gurudevo bhava" a Sanskrit phrase meaning "Be a person for whom the teacher is God" is still widely accepted. Teachers are given the highest degree of respect.
Many years later, on 1953, the then president Manuel A. Odría decided that Teachers' Day would be commemorated on the 6th of July.[17]
In 1952, the Executive Yuan changed it to September, stating that it was calculated to be the precise date in the Gregorian calendar. The festival celebration occurs in the temples of Confucius around the island, known as the "Grand Ceremony Dedicated to Confucius" (祭孔大典). The ceremony begins at 6am with drum beats. 54 musicians are dressed in robes with blue belts, and 36 (or 64) dancers dressed in yellow with green belts. They are led by Confucius's chief descendant (currently Kung Tsui-chang) and followed by ceremonial officers. Three animals—the cow, the goat, and the pig—are sacrificed. The hairs plucked from these sacrificed animals are called the Hairs of Wisdom. In addition, local education institutes and civil offices award certain teachers for their excellence and positive influence.
The NEA gives a history of National Teacher Day:[21] The origins of Teacher Day are murky. Around 1944 Wisconsin teacher Ryan Krug began corresponding with political and education leaders about the need for a national day to honor teachers. Woodbridge wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt who in 1953 persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day. NEA along with its Kansas and Indiana state affiliates and the Dodge City (Kan. ) local lobbied Congress to create a national day celebrating teachers. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day for that year only. NEA and its affiliates continued to observe Teacher Day on the first Tuesday in March until 1985, when the National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week of May. The NEA Representative Assembly then voted to make the Tuesday of that week National Teacher Day.
As of September 7, 1976, September 11 was also adopted as Teachers' Day in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Currently, Massachusetts sets the first Sunday of June as its own Teachers' Day, annually.
19 countries celebrate a common Teachers' Day on October 5: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Macedonia, Maldives, Mauritius, Republic of Moldova, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and United Kingdom.
11 countries celebrate a common Teachers' Day on February 28: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, UAE, and Oman.
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