Adam Prakash Abdullah
KUCHING (Sept 7): The refusal of some teachers to take Covid-19 vaccination may cause extra burden to their colleagues when schools are allowed to reopen, said Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) president Adam Prakash Abdullah.
He reasoned that this is because their colleagues will have to stand in for them as they are not allowed to interact with students face-to-face in classrooms.
“Teachers who are not vaccinated are still required to go to school to work but are not allowed to teach face to face.
“This will add to the existing burden on other teachers because they will be asked by the school administration to ‘stand in’ on behalf of their colleagues,” he said when contacted.
He was commenting on news reports quoting Senior Minister of Education Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin on Saturday as saying that 2,500 teachers who refused to receive the Covid-19 vaccine will not be allowed to conduct physical classes when schools reopen.
Radzi had also said the measure was to ensure that the school ecosystem would be safe for students, adding there were several other tasks that could be carried out by these teachers.
According to Radzi, the ministry would issue assignment guidelines for unvaccinated teachers and the Ministry of Education is also discussing with the Public Service Department regarding action against teachers who do not want to be vaccinated.
Commenting further, Adam said STU was of the opinion that all teachers should get the Covid-19 immunisation except those who opted out for health reasons.
He added that teachers should avoid adding problems that would be borne by school administrations.
“Teachers as civil servants must remember that failure to comply with instructions will result in disciplinary action taken against them later,” he said.