By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, March 20: Sarawak Bumiputera Teachers Union (KGBS) wants the Malaysian government to consider teachers as a priority group to be injected with the Covid-19 vaccine.
Its president Ahmad Malie said as part of the initiative to control the pandemic, teachers should be vaccinated in the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
“Currently, none of the teachers in our education fraternity have received the vaccine. Since they are part of our front liners, therefore it is only right that this group are given priority.
“With some schools already open for face-to-face learning, and more will be opening soon, this will give better confidence for parents to send their children to school,” Ahmad told at a press conference today.
Meanwhile, KGBS also repeatedly urged the government to solve the issue of the shortage of teachers in Sarawak.
“The shortage of teachers is getting more serious and if this is not tackled comprehensively, it will become a critical education issue in the state.
Therefore, KGBS is urging that the Education Ministry addresses the issue of teachers’ shortage as a priority,” he said.
Ahmad stressed that this has caused many problems, among them were school administrative in allocating the right subjects to teachers.
Although it is preferable to have Sarawakian teachers teaching in the state, he said KGBS is of the view that due to the shortage, it does not matter, even if the ministry had to send Peninsular Malaysia teachers to Sarawak. – DayakDaily
