While thousands of educators and supporting staff have received the Covid-19 jab, some early childhood development (ECD) educators said they feel left out of the vaccination roll-out as they claim that they have not been contacted by the Education Department regarding vaccination.
Education Department spokesperson, Kwazi Mthethwa, said: “ECD educators should wait and will be informed in time regarding vaccination.” The Westville Weekly Gazette contacted the KZN Department of Education on Friday, 25 June following an outcry from staff members and the principal of Berea West Pre-Primary School who are desperate to get vaccinated just like other Education Department staff. The Department of Education vaccine roll-out began on Wednesday and as per the department, only those with persal numbers, a unique system-generated 8-digit number assigned to each employee who is appointed on the Persal System, are eligible to vaccinate. Principal of Berea West Pre-Primary, Feroza Domun, said it is disgraceful and sad that the Department of Education and Department of Social Development is outcasting the ECD sector even when it comes to vaccinations. “What is the point of being registered with the departments if they are not going to assist everyone in a time of a pandemic? One of government’s most important drives during this pandemic is to get people vaccinated. Why are we being left out? Are we not educators? Is what we do not important enough? Are our little people whom we care for on a daily basis, the forgotten?” she said.
Domun added that Berea West Pre-Primary School is registered with the Department of Education and the Department of Social Development and yet, still are not considered important enough to get the vaccine. “We may be private, but are we not also dealing with children or learners on a daily basis?” she said. Domun said since the beginning of Covid-19, many other ECD centres have been fighting a losing battle with the departments of Education and Social Development. “The Department of Education did not provide us with PPEs or sanitisers. We had to get them ourselves at our expense, which we did not have. We do not know whether or not we exist in the Department’s system,” she said. Domun said if it takes, for her to personally drive her staff to a vaccination site, she will do so and she will beg and plead for her educators to be vaccinated. “We are all in this together,” she added. The Department of Social Development was contacted for comment, but by the time of going to print, no response had been received.
