UAE: Action to be taken against public school teachers refusing to take Covid jabs

Reuters

Abu Dhabi - Vaccination is mandatory for anyone entering school facilities

Published: Thu 2 Sep 2021, 3:46 PM

Updated: Thu 2 Sep 2021, 3:54 PM

By
Ismail Sebugwaawo

The Emirates School Establishment said it will take the necessary action against public school teachers who deliberately refuse the Covid-19 vaccine without verified exemption from health authorities.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) had earlier said all school staff and teachers must be vaccinated against Covid-19 to return to campuses for the new academic year. Children aged 16 and above also have to be fully vaccinated.

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They are all required to have two doses of Covid-19 shots to enter schools unless they have a verified exemption certificate.

The MoE also noted that vaccination is mandatory for anyone entering school facilities. This means, besides students and teachers, parents visiting the premises should have been vaccinated.

Only those not eligible to get the vaccines are exempted from the requirement, provided they are carrying a certificate of exemption issued by the authorities.

In ‘School Day Design,’ which was issued recently, the establishment also called on schools to ensure they fill vacancies in case there are Covid-19 infections among teachers and to apply the “hybrid learning” model as a temporary solution. This should be done in coordination with the department of Human Resources, in cases where more than one teacher is infected in a school.

The establishment stressed the importance of students’ commitment to learning groups in which they were classified by the school administration and if they wish to change the group, the student’s guardian should submit a request to do so before the 25th day of each month. The administration can then look into the request to take the appropriate decision, so that it does not affect its system of learning.

Authorities have also stressed the need for students and their parents to stick to the learning model they had previously chosen before schools resumed.

Pupils in schools across the UAE had returned to campuses on August 29 for face-to-face learning and under strict Covid-19 measures to ensure the safety of everyone in the community.

Education authorities had, however, offered students the option to either study from home (remote learning) or attend school physically (face-to-face learning) or choose a combination of the two (hybrid learning model).

The Emirates Schools Establishment had confirmed that the remote learning option is available to pupils, even if the school administration had chosen 100 percent face-to-face learning model. The parent must have chosen the learning model for their children prior to the beginning of the semester and there is no change to switch to another model in the middle.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com