By Leilah Bbaale
The Ministry of Education and Sports wants the government to prioritize the vaccination of teachers.

A source at the education ministry who preferred anonymity says that officials have already tabled the idea as part of their draft plan in the event the lockdown is lifted and schools are allowed to reopen.

“Vaccination of teachers and non-teaching staff in schools has been prioritized and suggestions have been made that government ring-fences the jabs for this category of people since the protection of teachers is essential for schools to reopen safely,” the source noted.

Dr Joyce Moriku Kaduccu, the State Minister in charge of Primary Education confirms that the proposal has been discussed and higher authorities have made it clear that schools cannot reopen before vaccinating teachers.

Already, Uganda National Teachers’ Union and UNICEF had suggested a similar idea appealing to teachers to actively seek and get the vaccination when the new supplies of vaccine become available.

Although the government had prioritized the vaccination of teachers in the first phase of vaccination efforts, many teachers shunned the exercise.

Statistics indicate that only 110,000 of the targeted 550,000 teachers have taken the vaccine. This means that 440,000 (over 80 percent) of the teachers in Uganda are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine.