The Minister of Education Prof. GL Peiris says that the initial steps to start schools will be implemented in August after the vaccination of school teachers. The Minister said this while participating in the official launch of Covid vaccination for school teachers and non-academic staff today (12). Accordingly, all teachers in the Colombo region will be vaccinated today and the program will be completed tomorrow (13), the Minister said. There are 242,000 teachers in the country and most of them have already been vaccinated, the Minister said. “Online education is a must in such a situation. But I do not believe for a moment that distance or online education is a satisfying alternative to teaching in the classroom. There are some errors. Therefore, schools cannot be kept closed like this. We are opening schools as part of opening the whole country. Subject to step-by-step health advice. We hope to take the first steps in August," he said. Meanwhile, several teachers' and principals' associations have withdrawn from online teaching activities due to salary anomalies, arrests and quarantine of trade union leaders. It is reported that several trade unions including the Ceylon Teachers 'Service Union, the Ceylon Teachers' Union, the All Ceylon United Teachers' Union and the Sri Lanka National Principals' Union have joined the strike. The main reason for the union action is the protest against the arrest and quarantine of several trade union representatives, including the General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union, Joseph Stalin, on charges of conducting illegal protests. Commenting on this, the Minister said that only some teachers have taken steps to withdraw from teaching activities today. However, the Minister of Education said that online education should be continued and that it was not a permanent solution.