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Vaccine priority sought for exam teachers

08 Jul 2021

  • A/L, Grade 5 Scholarship in October 

By Buddhika Samaraweera The Teachers’ Trade Unions emphasised that priority should be given to teachers who will be on duty during examinations to be held in October 2021 and primary school teachers, when administering the Covid-19 vaccines to teachers. When contacted by The Morning, the Ceylon Teachers' Services Union (CTSU) Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that steps should be taken to vaccinate the teachers who will be involved in examination duties first. “When considering the current situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is very dangerous to conduct examinations without vaccinating teachers,” he noted, adding that the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) and Grade Five Scholarship examinations are scheduled to be held in October 2021. He said that teachers who teach for primary grades should also be given priority in vaccination. Claiming that it is not successful to teach primary grade students online, he noted that it is vital for teachers to be vaccinated if they want to resume teaching in the classrooms. Jayasinghe also claimed that although the Education Ministry has stated that steps would be taken to provide Covid-19 vaccines to teachers, no specific programme has been formulated regarding how to do so. “Teachers have been told on a number of occasions that they would be vaccinated, but so far the authorities have failed to implement it. Therefore, it is not enough to just come and state before the media that teachers would be vaccinated. We ask the authorities to work on a proper plan to provide all teachers with anti Covid-19 vaccines, within a specific time period,” he added. When contacted by The Morning, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) Secretary Joseph Stalin warned that even if schools are reopened, teachers will not report for duty until they are given the anti Covid-19 vaccines. He further emphasised the importance of providing vaccines to teachers covering all the Provinces as soon as possible, under a formal programme. Meanwhile, during a protest organised by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in front of the entrance to the Parliament yesterday (8) morning, the SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa also expressed his views on rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to teachers. “It has now been decided to vaccinate teachers. Teachers are educating 4.3 million students. They should have been given the vaccines first. A vaccination protocol should have been formalised,” he added. Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris said on 7 July that the health authorities would commence administering Covid-19 vaccines to teachers from 12 July. The decision had been taken following a discussion with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week.


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