Investing in teachers is urgently needed to provide the best possible opportunities for millions of children, youth and adults worldwide, the heads of various United Nations agencies today said in a joint statement marking World Teachers' Day.

Despite global gains in the number of children enrolled in school, many of the world’s students fail to leave their educational experiences with the skills necessary for them to succeed in life and help their nations develop, United Nations officials said today.

With one in four young people – 175 million adolescents – unable to read a single sentence, International Literacy Day is an opportunity to remember one simple truth: literacy not only changes lives, it saves them, said the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The global number of out-of-school children aged 6 to 11 is still as high as 58 million, showing little overall improvement since 2007, according to a new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report, which also reveals that positive change is possible, spotlighting success in 17 countries that have reversed that trend over the past decade.