Education Minister Roger Jaensch needs to come clean about the number of teachers on leave due to COVID and the number of relief teachers who have come forward to work as COVID cases continue to rise in the school community.
Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said with a jump of about 400 students diagnosed with the virus over the past week, it was time for Mr Jaensch to update parents, students and school staff on what contingency he had planned to ensure schools could stay open.
“The government claims to have access to thousands of teachers from a pool of relief and retired staff but there has been silence on how many have actually put their hands up in the wake of the latest wave of the pandemic since Premier Gutwein opened the border to COVID in December,” Mr Willie said.
Importantly, there are nearly 1,700 individuals registered to work as relief teachers in Government Schools, and a number of retired staff have also agreed to return to work in schools if needed.
In addition, a further 3,399 people have registered interest to work in Tasmanian schools in other school-based roles, on top of some staff who are not currently in school sites but have agreed to return to work at schools if required. Acting Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff, 8 February
“Now that we know there are currently 1,600 primary and secondary students diagnosed with COVID can Mr Jaensch provide actual data about how many of those teachers are now working in Tasmanian schools?” Mr Willie said.
“Or, alternately, can the Education Minister provide an honest picture of how many schools will be forced to close as the pandemic continues? We know the Department of Education has modelled the impact of COVID.
“Parents in particular need to know if they need to be making plans to keep their children at home and that is not planning that can take place overnight – they need and deserve notice well in advance.”
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years
