MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2021) Fiji government intends to fire 344 school teachers who refuse to get the COVID-19 shot, Minister for Education Premila Kumar said.
"In total, we are looking at 344 teachers who will be terminated under the No Jab No Job policy," Kumar said as quoted by the FBC broadcaster.
The minister also confirmed that 130 teachers were already notified that their contracts will be ending. The teachers had been asked to get their first shot of the vaccine by August 16 and second by October 31.
The country's education system will not suffer from the shortage of teachers, the minister said, addressing the concerns sparked by the announcement.
"At this stage, we are redeploying teachers from within schools, say, for example, if a school has surplus teachers, so first, we will do the redeployment. We have also identified those teachers who are new teachers," she noted.
The minister added that 7,622 teachers have been already fully vaccinated and 5,110 had their first dose.
Fiji introduced the No Jab No Job policy in July forcing civil servants and staff in the private sector to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to be able to continue working.
