Covid-19: Training Ministry to attend till Nov 1 to behave on anti-vax academics, says Radzi
KUCHING: The Ministry of Education will wait until November 1st to take action against teachers who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Minister Datuk Dr. Radzi Jidin said this is in line with the Public Services Department (JPA) directive that requires all officers to be vaccinated by November 1.
“Since the JPA announced, some teachers have taken their first dose, so we are monitoring the situation.
“The important thing is that if unvaccinated teachers interfere with school operations, immediate action, including transfer, is taken,” Radzi added when speaking to reporters on Tuesday (October 26) after visiting SMK Bandar Samariang here.
Radzi said the ministry’s rationale is that unvaccinated teachers cannot teach face-to-face classes, but must be present at the school for other tasks.
At the same time, it is important to ensure that school operations are not impaired if teachers refuse to be vaccinated.
“If, for example, one of the teachers in special schools is not vaccinated, this has an impact on the other teachers, since special needs children are usually closely accompanied by teachers.
“We’re going to look at that in detail, similar to what we do with preschool teachers who don’t want to be vaccinated,” he said.
When vaccinating teenagers, Radzi said over 80% had received the first dose, while some states had reached 90%.
He also said the majority of fifth and sixth grade students were fully vaccinated.
“We are in the final stages of studying the data to decide if grades 5 and 6 students can return to school without rotation,” he said, adding that the decision will be announced shortly.
