10 Jun 2021

 Minister of Basic Education, Mr Fidelis Molao says though a priority, the vaccination of teachers and non-teaching staff has not been possible, due to the limited number of vaccines the country has been receiving.  

Minister Molao told Nata Senior Secondary School management on Wednesday that the proposal to vaccinate teachers had been discussed extensively with the COVID-19 task force, but the limiting factor was the number of doses the country had been receiving. He said due to the foregoing, priority had been given to the most vulnerable age bracket of 64 and above. 

 The minister however said it had been agreed that the teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the law enforcement cluster be given priority when the country received its next consignment, either by the end of this month or the beginning of July. 

Mr Molao also advised teaching and non-teaching staff that fall within the current age group that was being vaccinated to go receive their jab and not wait. 

Furthermore, he urged the school management not to be afraid to suspend classes for a few days, when experiencing a high number of positive cases in the school, as such a decision would help curb the spread of the virus. 

On the issue of the school having only one nurse during this time of the pandemic, which was raised by the school head, Mr Gaositwe Chakalisa, the minister explained that at the moment there was little that could be done as the health sector was already stretched. He however, said the situation would be addressed when the situation improved. 

 He urged the school management to intensify rapid testing of learners because in schools such as Nxakato in Sowa, pupils were tested on arrival from vacation and 74 tested positive, which was an indication that the virus was out there and pupils were taking it to school. 

 Meanwhile, the school head revealed that 240 learners and seven teachers had tested positive, adding however, that they were fortunate because there was enough space within the school to place those who tested positive on isolation. Ends