Kerala teachers, non-teaching staff given a week's time to get jabbed

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 4 (IANS) Kerala Education Minister V. Sivankutty who has been speaking tough of strong action against those government teachers who are yet to take Covid vaccine, appears to have yielded results as just 1,707 more teachers and non-teaching staff are left to be jabbed, said the Minister on Saturday.

According to the figures there are close to 2 lakh teachers and non teaching staff in the government schools in Kerala.

On Friday, Sivankutty said that district-wise lists of teachers who have not got themselves jabbed against Covid-19 will be released, and they will have to give an explanation for that, but on Saturday, the Minister decided to give a week's time to the remaining who are yet to take the vaccine.

"Those who have medical reasons for not taking the vaccine have to get that certified by a state or a central government health official. If not, such teachers will have to provide a RT-PCR test result every week. And if any are unwilling to do this, they can sit at home with no salary. So we will wait for a week more," said Sivankutty.

On November 28, the Minister said more than 5,000 teachers of the state have not inoculated themselves against the virus.

After a gap of 20 months, on November 1, the schools in the state had opened and the students and teachers returned to the campuses.

In the last meeting to discuss the latest Covid situation in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that from now onwards, those who are not inoculated will not get free Covid-19 treatment at state government hospitals.

Meanwhile it has now been decided that from December 13, all students have to wear school uniforms.