Adam Prakash Abdullah
KUCHING (Sept 20): The Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) foresees that there will be no issues when schools reopen on Oct 3 as most teachers in the state have already been vaccinated.
Its president Adam Prakash Abdullah said teachers in Sarawak are fully aware of the importance of Covid-19 vaccination.
“To date, we have the highest number of teachers that have been vaccinated in the country and we hope to achieve total vaccination come Oct 3,” he said when contacted for comments on the status of vaccinated teachers in the state.
He advised teachers who have not been able to get themselves vaccinated to do so by going to their nearest vaccination centre as soon as possible.
“We would like to see all teachers be able to get back to their classrooms to teach when schools reopen.
“Students will be very sad if their teachers are unable to enter the classrooms to teach because they are not vaccinated,” he said.
He hoped that teachers would not create extra problems for the school administration due to their unvaccinated status.
“The schools have more pressing issues to handle and so, STU hopes that all teachers will cooperate to ease the burden when schools reopen,” he said.
He also urged all teachers to be prepared for the reopening of schools and to make adjustments to their school’s semester plan in view that the academic calendar for 2021 has been extended to end in March 2022.
Education Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin recently announced that schools in states under Phase 3 and 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) will reopen from October 3 with 50 per cent capacity in classrooms.
He had also previously said that teachers who refuse to be vaccinated will not be allowed to interact with students face-to-face when schools reopen.