Inoculate staff before schools reopen, say parents

Inoculate staff before schools reopen, say parents

Parents say they don't want their children to go back to school until staff have been fully vaccinated.

Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, chief of the Department of Health, said officials conducted a poll in which they asked parents for their opinion about the reopening of schools on June 14 and found half were against it.

They reasoned that all teachers should receive the Covid-19 vaccine before the reopening, otherwise they fear Covid-19 being spread in schools.

"A decision [on reopening] should be made by provinces based on the outbreak situation and core practices against the disease infections by the department, the Ministry of Education and alliance networks," Mr Suwannachai said.

The poll found that 54.8% of participants disagreed with schools reopening, compared with 40.5% who favoured it. The most common reason for opposing it was that the number of new daily infections was still high.

Many parents who disagreed with the reopening said they wanted teachers and student to be vaccinated beforehand.

Dr Suwannachai suggested educational assess their own situations through the Thai Stop Covid-19 plus phone app, adding that it was very important to reduce the movements of students or teachers living in outbreak zones.

Education Minister Treenuch Thienthong said she had already issued new ministerial rules for semester fee collections by ordering schools to refund parents for classes cancelled during the pandemic.

Schools could also consider extending the fee collection period and provide assistance to parents in case of need.

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