Basic Education Dept says it won’t fire unvaccinated teachers

The Basic Education Department said that while it was strongly recommending that all educators get vaccinated, it had at no stage compelled any employees to get the jab.

The department said that it had noted with concern misleading reports and misinformation regarding a circular it had distributed to schools last week.

It said that the “no jab, no job” narritive was seemingly creating confusion and fear among educators. At the end of the sector’s vaccination drive, 517, 000 workers out of 582,000 were inoculated.

The department’s Mompati Galorale said that the circular sought to provide steps that must be taken to accommodate teachers who were not able to get vaccinated for various reasons.

“The teachers do not have to worry about losing their jobs because of the clarification that I’ve given, that it is our duty to inform them of the provisions that are already there in the law, but the department has no intention of laying off of the educators and so forth,” he said.

Source: EWN
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