No word on vaccine benefits for teachers
Published:Friday | August 13, 2021 | 12:06 AMTameka Gordon/Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica Teachers’ Association President Jasford Gabriel has said that the nation’s public sector educators are still in the dark as it relates to a controversial proposal by the Government to differentiate compensation and treatment based on whether they have taken the COVID-19 vaccine.
With roughly a month to go before the expected start of the new academic year, Gabriel told The Gleaner on Tuesday that there has been no dialogue between the Government at the union on the issue despite a promise to have talks.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the Government’s intent at a press conference in July, hoping that the move would boost vaccination numbers among teachers ahead of the planned reopening of schools at which time it is hoped that there can be a resumption of face-to-face classes. He, however, did not give details on how the initiative would work.
“The incentive structure has to be created in such a way that teachers choose to get vaccinated, and those who get vaccinated could not be treated in the same way as those who don’t,” Holness said at the time.
He said while the Government is not looking to mandate the teachers to take the jab, “… at the same time we would have to consider that teachers who are vaccinated who turn up to work, that they are treated in some preferential way, and those who don’t turn up to work, we may have to ask them to be tested, and we may have to be considering what should happen regarding how they are remunerated”.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information did not elaborate further when The Gleaner made contact on Wednesday, saying it was unable to comment and directed queries to the Office of the Prime Minister, which was just as mum.
“We haven’t heard anything further, so we have told the teachers to treat that for what it is worth … . That’s not a good road to go down at all and I think the prime minister realised that,” Gabriel said this week..
Teachers have pushed back against the planned move, with president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, Linvern Wright, noting the prime minister would need to consider how preferential treatment affects the rights or morale of individual teachers..
“The prime minister runs the risk of resistance, as many who are against it will be upset regarding privileges for those who are vaccinated and for many it could be read as an attempt to force them to vaccinate,” Wright previously told The Gleaner.