Delhi govt schools asked to scale up vaccinating teachers

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has directed all its schools to take immediate steps to vaccinate all the teachers

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has directed all its schools to take immediate steps to vaccinate all the teachers. All the Delhi government schools have been asked to submit data of teachers who have not been vaccinated as of now.

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On Monday, HT reported that around 100 teachers have died of Covid-19 since March last year. Even as schools were immediately closed when the pandemic hit the national capital last year, teachers were deployed in Covid-related duties.

In a letter to district education officers and school principals, director (DoE) Udit Prakash Rai said, “Government school teachers have been spearheading the Covid response of the Delhi government. Teachers have been deployed on several fronts to contain the spread of coronavirus. Teachers have gone beyond the call of duty in management of containment zones, airports, vaccination drive, ration distribution, oxygen management etc.”

“The teachers of DoE who are the frontline workers for the Delhi government have led the efforts of the government in containing the infection and breaking the transmission. They have also spared no efforts in managing the second wave Covid -19 crisis which unfolded in the months of April and May 2021,” he added.

Rai said all the government school teachers shall get vaccinated at the earliest. “Accordingly, all DDES and HOSS are hereby directed to take all necessary steps towards vaccination of all the government school teachers. They should ensure that all the concerned teachers are facilitated and vaccinated at the earliest,” he said in the letter.

Officials at the DoE said the government might set up a separate vaccination centre for teachers in the coming days. “It will be decided after collecting data from all schools,” an official said.

Several principals of Delhi government schools said that they have already sent data to their district officers between Wednesday and Thursday. Harpreet Kaur, principal of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Tilak Nagar, said, “Only 28-29 of the total 60 teachers employed at the school have been vaccinated yet. We were sending our teachers for vaccination in batches in March-April. Then the second wave of Covid-19 hit the capital. We will now prioritize the vaccination of all our teachers.”

Dr Devendra, principal of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Rouse Avenue, said they also submitted the data with the district officials. “Although 80% of our teachers are already vaccinated, it will be better to complete the vaccination of all teachers before we restart the teaching-learning process again after the summer break,” he said.

Schools in the Capital are scheduled to reopen virtually from June 10 after the summer break.