“More than 381 teachers test positive for COVID-19”

Jan 21, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – That’s the caption above the article in Kaieteur News Wednesday edition, page 12. A picture of teachers (I presume) protesting/picketing against the Ministry of Education accompanies the article. Taking a look at the picture, I can only make out two persons among the picketing group wearing a mask. The teachers are all crowded together in very close proximity to each other, and not wearing a mask (except for the two), in the face of mounting COVID-19 infections all across the country (1,083 new COVID-19 cases per day a few days ago, 53,178 cases with 1,101 deaths), calling for a closure of schools for two weeks.
What do these “Educators” and “Role Models” for our children expect if they refuse to wear a mask when in public? Are they immune to COVID-19 viral infection? No way!!! Mask wearing is one of the ways to protect against contracting the virus. What message are they sending to the students under their supervision? These teachers, who don’t care about their own health, are supposed to keep our children “safe and healthy” in schools. This is an absurdity. If the teachers will not protect themselves from the COVID-19 infection, then they are unfit to take care of the nations’ children. They may very well have contributed in no small measure to the 219 students tested positive for COVID-19 so far. It’s time that teachers who refuse to wear a mask in school be sent home without pay! May GOD help our school children and the society as a whole.

S. Ali