Minister for Education Premila Kumar says 202 teachers have tested positive for COVID-19 to date and it is not the over-exaggerated numbers released by the General Secretary for Fiji Teachers Union, Agni Deo Singh however Singh says he stands by the figures he has mentioned on the 10th of this month.
Kumar highlighted this when questioned by fijivillage on the number of teachers that have tested positive or contracted the virus in school since school started on the 4th of January 2022.
Kumar says even teachers from Primary and Early Childhood Education have tested positive which simply indicates that teachers were positive when they entered the school environment.
She says students were only in school from the 4th of this month for 5 days.
The Minister highlighted that teachers are trained to ensure COVID protocols are followed and they also have COVID monitors where students are monitoring other students if they are following COVID safe measures.
The Minister says Agni Deo Singh exaggerated the number of teachers testing positive.
While responding to Kumar’s statement, Singh says he stands by the figures that he mentioned where he said that more than 500 teachers are in isolation as they have either contracted COVID-19 or are primary contacts.
He says those figures were meant for that time.
Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete says COVID is now endemic in the country and they know that similar to other countries the community transmission dictates the number of cases in schools.
He says school is important for the mental well-being of children and we also need to understand that Fiji has a high vaccination rate.
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