Unvaccinated teachers’ names to be made public by Kerala government, says V Sivankutty: Report

NEW DELHI: The names of unvaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff will be made public in Kerala. The Kerala state government plans to issue show-cause notices to the unvaccinated staff as well. “The data will be made public by Friday afternoon. Society has the right to have access to information about unvaccinated teachers”, said V Sivankutty, education minister, reported The New Indian Express.

Kerala schools reopened on November 1 after being shut for more than a one-and-a-half year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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According to the data collected by the government, around 5,000 school staff have not been vaccinated yet. Many of them are anti-vaxxers.

Sivankutty had previously told teachers who have not yet taken the Covid vaccine to stay away from teaching students. They will also be not entitled to any support from the government.

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"We are not forcing them (staff), but have asked them to stay at home. In the guidelines issued just before the reopening of schools, we have made it very clear that all teaching and non-teaching staff must be inoculated," Sivankutty told reporters here.

Some ‘unvaccinated teachers’ have been visiting schools despite instructions from the authorities. They have reportedly become a major health concern while resuming physical classes especially when the government has planned to extend the school timings to evenings from the second week of December onwards.