Correct Position on Non Vaccinated Teachers: To Report or Not to Report for Work?
17 October 2021
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By Dr Takavafira M. Zhou | We have read in the press and from unsubstantiated utterances by gvt officials that non vaccinated civil servants must stop reporting for work forthwith. As Ptuz we encourage teachers to be vaccinated but by no means should such encouragement be misconstrued for mandatory vaccination, but voluntary vaccination.

The quandary over the issue of vaccination is that there was never an engagement between gvt as employer and civil servants representatives (employees), particularly teacher unions. The order is therefore a unilateral declaration by gvt.

teachers’ strike

We however advice teachers that it is unprocedural for them to stop going to work on the basis of generic communication that has no specific names. In terms of standard operational procedures unvaccinated teachers must continue to report for work until they receive communiques specifically in their names informing them to stop coming for work. Verbal instructions from school heads are invalid. We however encourage school heads to compile lists of all unvaccinated teachers at their respective schools, and indicate reasons for non vaccination and send to districts for onward conveyance to province, Head Office and PSC and wait for formal instructions from these respectable offices. Verbal instructions are legally void in the Public Service and we hope there would be written communiques to teachers in the respective schools taking cognisant of reasons proffered for non-vaccination.

It is our hope that the issue of non- vaccination would not be used to settle old scores in schools. Every case must be determined on its merit and we encourage administrators, education officials and PSC to navigate this quandary in a professional manner, never mind it’s one armed banditry origin.

Venceremos

Dr Takavafira M. Zhou, Ptuz President