Schools reopen, but only 14% govt staff fully jabbed

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Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13

Even as the state government has reopened schools for class VI and above, the inoculation of teaching and non-teaching staff remains a concern for the Education Department. Only 14 per cent employees in state government schools are fully vaccinated.

Official data show that of the total 1,03,886 teaching and non-teaching employees, 14,790 are fully vaccinated, while 26,763 have taken the first shot.

Certain districts have “very poor” vaccination record. These include Bhiwani and Panipat (7 per cent), Kaithal (8 per cent) and Charkhi Dadri (11 per cent). Gurugram (25 per cent), Panchkula and Karnal (24 per cent), and Rewari (20 per cent) have slightly better vaccination record than other districts.

Taking strong exception to the poor performance on the vaccination front, the Directorate of School Education has now told field-level officials, including district education officers and district elementary education officers, to coordinate with chief medical officers to organise special inoculation camps for the school staff.

After the number of Covid-19 cases started dropping recently, the state government last month decided to reopen schools for classes IX to XII. Later, schools were thrown open for classes VI to VIII also.