ONLY a handful of teachers have declined to take the Covid-19 vaccine, education groups said.

They said the the vaccine cannot be forced on the holdouts in the event that they have a legitimate health issue that prevents them from getting inoculated.

As for those who refuse to take the vaccine due to misinformation, the Public Service Department (JPA) will come up with the appropriate measures to deal with them, they said.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Wang Heng Suan said unvaccinated teachers were no longer a problem since the JPA mandated the shots for the civil service.

NUTP data showed that of the 230,000 teachers in the country, about 100 have refused the jabs.

Some who have declined the vaccine are asking about early retirement, Wang said.

“There are about 100 teachers who don’t want to be vaccinated. Some due to religious reasons while others are not well informed about the vaccine and the epidemic,” Wang told The Malaysian Insight.

“If these teachers are near retirement age, they can retire early and get their pension. Those who do not have this option should reconsider taking the shot.

“Since the JPA said it will take action against those still refusing to be vaccinated, some teachers have also pointed out that it is cumbersome to apply for early retirement.”

On Monday, school resumed for 47,000 students in Terengganu, Kelantan and Langkawi, Kedah, which are under Phase 4 of the national recovery plan (NRP).

Classes are conducted at 50% capacity to enable social distancing  and to ensure the health standard operating procedure (SOP) is observed.

Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin said as of this week, 94% of teachers have been vaccinated.

Meanwhile those who have refused vaccination will not be allowed to teach in class or have other forms of physical interaction with the pupils.

The Education Ministry will grant exceptions to teachers who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.

Jiao Zong president Cheah Lek Are said Chinese schools nationwide have put preventive measures in place to ensure that the schools do not become Covid-19 clusters.

Given that schools are only reopening in phases, parents are still able to gauge the condition before deciding whether to send their children back to schools,” he said.

Radzi had earlier said that parents who are hesitant to send their children to school need only to provide the schools with a letter and the student will not be penalised for it.

Cheah said previously there was a large number of infections among pupils in schools because they brought it from home and went on to infect others.

Instead of relying on the phases in the NRP, Cheah said decisions to reopen schools should be made based on the number of infections in the school area.

“If a student gets infected in school, the parents will blame us for not having enough SOPs in place. But we have also informed parents not to send their children to school if they show symptoms.”

Speaking about vaccine hesitancy among teachers, he said it is best to arrange for them to do other tasks.

“The teachers cannot be in the school compound. Parents will be worried if their children are around unvaccinated teachers.

“At the same time, it is unfair to ask substitute teachers to pick up the slack for these teachers.

“These teachers should be asked to go on unpaid leave until the problem is resolved.”

The number of teachers in this group is, however, relatively small and they can be asked to facilitate paperwork or prepare for online classes, he said.

“For teachers who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons, we hope the ministry will allocate funds to hire substitute teachers. There should be more flexibility in handling this group of teachers.”

Schools ready to reopen 

National Principals Union president Lim Bee Khim said the ministry has distributed about 20 to 80 test kits to schools with less than 2,000 students while schools with more than 2,000 students were given 100 test kits.

“The primary schools in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are ready to welcome students back to school.

“The challenge now is to ensure that the students observe social distancing measures.

While parents are a little hesitant to send their children back to school, they are also hoping that the reopening will go smoothly so the children can be in school while they are at work,” Lim said.

Schools will also be in constant communication with parents to update the students’ status in case they are unwell or become symptomatic, they will be immediately sent home, she added.

“We want to see the children happy and to hear their laughter in the school compound again, but we are also worried they will catch the virus in school despite the stringent measures that are in place.”

Though students have not attended classes in a long time, Lim said the school will ensure that the students keep up with their studies.

Sports will be taught online.

“Things like how to hold the badminton racket can be taught online so their extracurricular scores are not affected.”

Schools are reopening in stages after being closed for the better part of 20 months to curb the spread of Covid-19. – October 6, 2021.