Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon, Newsenders
“There will be tremendous tension in the teachers’ room between those who are vaccinated and those who are not,” says a school principal in the central area. “At first it will be hidden. Teachers may turn their backs, walk away and avoid being around a teacher who will not be vaccinated.” He also warns: “If in two or three weeks you go back to school, it is enough for one unvaccinated teacher to get infected or infected, and it could take all the demons out and cause outbursts or quarrels in the teachers’ room – and it will be unpleasant.”
He claims teachers who do not want to be vaccinated are irresponsible: “They are even a kind of brat. At the beginning of the vaccination campaign the teachers complained that they did not recognize their importance and did not give them priority. It was easy to complain. “Towards themselves, towards their families, towards their students and co-workers. There is anxiety, it is legitimate and should be given a place, but deciding not to get vaccinated and not to have a dialogue about it is not right – teachers should not be forced to get vaccinated, yes broad propaganda should be made.”
According to data from the Ministry of Education, only 56% of teaching staff and education staff were vaccinated in the first dose. Out of 310,803 teachers, kindergarten teachers, assistants and the like, only 174,387 made the first vaccine. The proportion of teachers vaccinated with the second vaccine stands at 36%. The Ministry of Education remained at a loss in light of the low data. Education Minister Yoav Galant is fighting for teaching staff to be given priority, and Teachers Union Secretary General Yaffa Ben-David has even threatened to suspend classes if they are not vaccinated first – but in practice they do not come to the vaccination centers.
“Irresponsible”
But in a few days, when the schools open and the teachers’ rooms open again, this failure will give its signals on the ground. “Teachers who do not get vaccinated act irresponsibly and stick sticks in the wheels of opening up the education system and getting it back to routine,” says a school principal in the lowlands.
He said some teachers do not get vaccinated either because they fear side effects: “It does not matter. They are waiting to get herd immunity when others get vaccinated and do the work for them. It will create a huge mess and tension in the teachers’ room, it could create camps or a situation The manager reprimands them, believes that they are being persecuted or harassed just because we were not vaccinated. “
This week, the issue caused a stir when Yavneh Mayor Zvi Gov-Ari announced that a teaching employee who would not be vaccinated would not enter the school. In his letter to school principals, teachers, kindergarten teachers and education staff, he wrote: “A person’s right to himself is not a matter for discussion, but his duty not to harm others is absolute. “It will be allowed to run a kindergarten where the kindergarten teacher and the assistant are not vaccinated, or do not have a negative corona test in the last 24 hours – every day. Also, a frontal lesson in the classroom by a person who is not vaccinated will not be allowed.”
“In the current legal situation in the State of Israel, teachers cannot be required to be vaccinated,” says Prof. Gila Shtofler, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Academic Center for Law and Business in Ramat Gan. “Between a person’s right to autonomy over his body and freedom of occupation in the face of the interest of public health and the preservation of human life.”
She adds: “Teachers cannot be required to be vaccinated just to protect themselves, just as other citizens cannot be required to do so. Teachers who are not willing to be vaccinated should not be prevented from working. An unvaccinated teacher is not necessarily a sick teacher. “Doctors, who seem to come into contact with a population that is at much higher risk than children.”
“The hallucinatory witch hunt”
According to the principal of a large high school in the south of the country: “I have been vaccinated and my whole family has been vaccinated and I think vaccination is an important, good and right thing. He added: “Unfortunately, I see that those who do not get vaccinated are snatching the corona because of the British mutation. More than ten workers in the teachers’ room who have not been vaccinated have already fallen ill.”
According to Dr. David Szenes, a clinical psychologist and certified psychotherapy instructor, a senior lecturer at the Lewinsky College of Education: “These days the eyes of parents and students are on the education system, and they are examining its handling of an educational discourse on the subject. “Resolving the issue by force, such as removing unvaccinated teachers, may fail, and the system must reach an agreed solution.”
Meanwhile, the secretary general of the Teachers’ Union, Yaffa Ben-David, said: “I see paramount importance in the vaccination of all Israeli citizens, including teaching staff. First, I do not believe in sanctions. I believe in discourse. Second, a situation is not possible in which of all civil servants and the public service will only require teaching staff to be vaccinated. The teachers’ union and the teaching staff will respect any decision that applies to all civil servants and the public service. “