Teachers fear losing their lives and their livelihoods

ANXIOUS teachers have raised concerns not only about their safety as they return to school while others fear they could lose their jobs if they don’t get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The third term begins tomorrow with more than 47 000 teachers and education support staff, across the country, fully vaccinated. Legal measures are also now in place for the national and provincial education departments to make it mandatory for teachers to get the jab.

Yesterday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said Covid-19 has had a devastating effect education sector. “Based on the analysis by Professor Martin Gustafsson from the Department of Basic Education (DBE)... between March 2020 and the end of February, 1 678 deaths can be considered the modest figure available for the number of publicly employed educators, who lost their lives to Covid-19.”

Motshekga also confirmed that pupils must return to schools this week on a rotational schedule until August 2. She said all teachers and pupils would return to the classroom on a full-time basis, thereafter.

SA Democratic Teachers Union Western Cape chairperson Jonovan Rustin said: “Vaccinations is still voluntary but I can tell you there is going to be a huge legal debate about whether you choose not to be vaccinated and you don't want to return to school because of your fear. Whether the department may bring the provisions of the Labour Relations Act which speaks about retrenchments and operational requirements.”

He added: “We all know that this is going to be challenged in court because it's going to be about your constitutional right versus the right of your employer to retrench you based on operational requirements.”

Rustin said he has been in contact with Western Cape Education Department and there were hundreds of schools that have indicated they cannot go back to full-time classes next month. “We had a meeting with the head of department and he indicated that a number of schools had applied not to bring all learners back on 2 August because they can’t accommodate all those learners back safely. Applications closed yesterday but I can confirm it’s a substantial number of schools,” said Rustin.

He added: “I estimate that there are going to be hundreds of schools (affected). If there are 1 500 schools in the province, I have a list of over 100 schools from just two areas that said they would not be able to return to 100% capacity.”

Spokesperson for Western Cape Education Kerry Mauchline said: “We get this report on a weekly basis and as of July 19, a total of 192 WCED staff members have died due to Covid-19, of which 145 are teaching staff. It must be noted that over half of the deaths were while schools were closed.”

Mauchline also confirmed that: “(A total of) 47 531 education sector staff, in the Western Cape, were vaccinated as part of the sector drive (Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines), which is just over 87% of our allocated target.”

But the vaccination rollout remains a contentious issue for teachers.

A teacher from a primary school in Delft said she feared she would lose her job if she doesn’t get vaccinated against Covid-19. She has a contract and chose to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation.

She said: “The secretary just handed us forms and said fill this in and don’t still ask a lot of questions. I laughed nervously and said that I am not ready to do this yet, I have other health issues and I want to consult my doctor first before I fill out the form.”

She explained that after the forms were completed, the school principal spoke to some of the teachers who indicated they did not want to be vaccinated. She said: “On the form it states that you need to confirm that no one influenced your decision. But after people said ‘no’ the principal went to the individuals who said no and kind of counselled them. If you changed your mind after that conversation then obviously you have been influenced.”

The teacher added that she spoke to as many colleagues as possible about her options and even contacted the WCED human resources department.

“A few colleagues told me that I better get vaccinated because they will use that to terminate your contract and you might struggle to get a teaching post if you don’t get vaccinated. I also spoke with someone in the human resources department and he told me that it's best to just do it and get vaccinated because at the end of the day they will just get rid of me.”

Mauchline said this teacher needed to contact the WCED district offices to voice her concerns. “Neither the DBE nor the WCED have issued any requirement that teachers must be vaccinated before returning to school. I would urge the teacher to contact their district office with their concerns about this.”

This week the DBE also issued official guidelines to provincial education departments on how to deal with the issue. The circular addressed to provincial education managers dealt with vaccinations and states: “After considering the educators' reasons for opting not to be vaccinated such as medical, religious, constitutional, cultural and comorbidity, the employer reserves the right to deal with such educators in terms of either operational requirements, incapacity procedures as contemplated in terms of the Labour Relations Act, No. 66 of 1998 read conjunction with the Employment of Educators Act, No 76 of 1998.”

It’s also stated that: “An educator who opts not to be vaccinated on medical grounds shall be required to submit a detailed medical report indicating that taking a vaccine will pose a health hazard to him/her or that he/she is allergic to the vaccine ... Where an educator does raise one of the objections based on constitutional or medical grounds, the department shall make voluntary counselling available to the employee.”

A Grade 7 teacher from a primary school in Mitchells Plain who did not want to be named said that vaccinations was a contentious issue. “I respect the right of people who refuse to take the vaccine. It is their personal choice. However, they are a danger not to only their colleagues and learners but also to themselves and their families. You have been given the opportunity to protect yourself and if you choose not to do so, then you are at risk.”

A teacher at a primary school in the Pinelands and Thornton area said: “I have been vaccinated and going back I feel a bit reassured that I am protected to a degree. But it does not take away my anxiety of going back to school… I don’t know whether my parents of my kids have been vaccinated. So I am still very unsure about going back to school, but I still have to continue and I continue with the strict Covid-19 protocols.”

She added: “Not all my colleagues that I directly work with have received the vaccine and this scares me as I’m not sure if they are asymptomatic or not. In my opinion I believe that it should have not been optional for educators as we work directly with children. Social media has played a big part in it and this is the reason why they have made the decision not to take the vaccine and they have very strong views about this.”