EWN reports that the Educators' Union of SA is concerned about schools remaining open during the Covid-19 third wave and has called on teachers not to report for duty until the vaccination programme has been completed.

Over 500,000 teachers and other employees in the education sector will head to 281 vaccination sites in the country from Wednesday. The vaccine programme will run for 14 days. The Department of Basic Education said regular attendance at schools would contribute to the successful implementation of the vaccination programme. Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga warned that calls for a stay-away would only set the department back. The department advised that circulars had been sent to provinces to outline all steps that must be taken before and after the vaccination process and that all provinces were ready to vaccinate education staff this week. Mhlanga was confident the rollout would work, as the department knew exactly where teachers were and how many staff were in the sector. "We have all the numbers. The majority of them are fully employed by the department. So, it's easy to plan based on that, but of course, it all depends on the movement and cooperation of people," he noted.

• Read the original of the report in the above regard by Thando Kubheka & Kaylynn Palm at EWN

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