Teachers from around Maharashtra have asked the state government to look into offering COVID-19 vaccine priority to teachers just as the government prepares to officially start vaccinations across the country. Since the last few days, multiple teachers organizations and educational institutions have asked the government to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers and students.
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Member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) teachers’ cell, Anil Bornare said, “In several parts of the state, schools have reopened in the last few months. Since many students do not have access to the internet and mobile phones, they would want to attend physical school. We thus request the government to add teachers and students to the list of beneficiaries for the vaccine.”
Similar demands were also made by the Early Childhood Association which is a body for preschools in India. In response, an unnamed official from the state education department said, “The decision about vaccination will be made by the Central and state government, and we cannot comment on it.”
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Further, the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) had recently asked governments around the world to offer teachers the priority when commencing the vaccination process. An official release from the agency read, “UNICEF is calling for teachers to be prioritised to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, once frontline health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated. This will help protect teachers from the virus, allow them to teach in person, and ultimately keep schools open.”
Around 15,000 schools opened across Maharashtra on November 23 amidst fears of a new coronavirus wave from some quarters. However, schools in regions like Mumbai and Pune are currently closed at least until December 31, which was a decision taken by the local and regional governing bodies.
The Central Health Ministry said this week that it has put around 30 crore citizens on the priority list which consists of high-risk individuals as well as frontline workers including health officials. The central government has said that India can innoculate priority groups by June 2021, suggesting that the battle with coronavirus is far from over even as we head into 2021.
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