Investing in teachers is an economic imperative

Every government today is searching for ways to reignite growth. From industrial strategies to AI investment, from stimulus packages to entrepreneurship drives, leaders are deploying every lever in the policy toolkit. Yet one of the most powerful engines of long-term prosperity remains consistently undervalued: our teachers.

Teachers are not only nurturers of curiosity, knowledge, and character. They are the invisible infrastructure of every economy, the “mother of all professions.” Before a scientist invents, before an engineer builds, before an entrepreneur launches, each sits in a classroom. The economic future of nations is written not only in boardrooms and laboratories but in the patient, daily work of teachers.

The overlooked growth engine

Consider the numbers. In the UK, research by Frontier Economics shows that improving teaching quality by just one standard deviation can raise annual GDP by 0.7–0.8%, a seismic impact for any advanced economy. The Education Policy Institute has demonstrated that investing £4bn in teacher professional development over ten years would yield a societal benefit of £61bn over the same period.

The picture in the US is much the same: a study by The Learning Agency (based on work by the National Bureau of Economic Research) found that one standard deviation of improvement in math test performance would boost earnings by an average of $21,000/year for individuals – and add $200+ billion to the US economy annually. Globally, UNESCO estimates that the annual cost to society of children who leave school early will reach US$6 trillion by 2030.

Yet despite this clear evidence, teaching remains undervalued – measured in exam results, constrained by budgets, and rarely seen as an investment in national competitiveness.

A global inflection point

As we enter the mid-2020s, the stakes could not be higher. Today, more than 60% of Africa’s population is under 25. Automation and AI are reshaping the labour market, demanding human skills of creativity, resilience, and collaboration that teachers are best placed to cultivate. Nations that fail to invest in their teachers risk forfeiting their place in the global economy.

The pandemic showed us how fragile learning systems can be, and how quickly inequality widens when teaching is disrupted. If we neglect teachers now, we are not just underfunding a profession; we are undermining our own future prosperity.

A new economic agenda for teachers

What is needed is nothing less than a global revaluation of teaching. Governments with the means must treat teacher investment as core national infrastructure, allocating funding with the same urgency as they do for energy, public health, or transportation networks. At the same time, teachers must be accorded the same societal esteem as doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs – the professions they themselves make possible. The UAE is leading the way, having demonstrated its commitment by hosting the 2025 Global Teacher Prize ceremony at its prestigious World Government Summit earlier this year, with Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, presenting the award in person.

This is not just about fairness. It is about economic survival. The 21st-century race will not be won by nations with the fastest microchips or the largest stadiums, but by those with the best teachers.

A call to action

On World Teachers’ Day, let us move beyond gratitude to action. Let us recognise teaching as the highest-return investment a society can make. Imagine if we treated teachers with the same reverence we reserve for CEOs or Silicon Valley innovators. Imagine if national growth strategies placed teacher quality at their core.

Teaching is not “just a job.” It is the scaffolding of every other profession, the multiplier of every innovation, and the cornerstone of every economy.

If governments, businesses, and civil society align behind this truth, we can create not only better classrooms but stronger economies, fairer societies, and a more resilient future.

Teachers build the future. It is time the world built for them.

Sunny Varkey is Chairman and Founder of GEMS Education and the Varkey Foundation