Principals in the dark on Covid rules for schools but shot in the arm not necessary

Year 12 students will not have to be vaccinated to get back into the classroom despite Gladys Berejiklian saying that the health advice was they ‘must get vaccinated’.

Year 12 student Mahad Amer at home in Blacktown. Picture: Nikki Short

Year 12 students in Sydney hotspots will not have to have a jab to return to the classroom despite Gladys Berejiklian saying the health advice was they “must get vaccinated”.

The NSW government this week announced that tens of thousands of Year 12 students would be given priority access to Pfizer vaccines in a bid to return them to face-to-face learning in time for HSC examinations.

But there was confusion on Thursday about whether it would be a requirement for students to be vaccinated.

It was also unclear whether vaccinations would be given at school or off-site, and whether it was logistically possible to immunise thousands of students by ­August 16.

The NSW Premier on Thursday refused to say whether students could return to school if they had not been vaccinated.

“We’re working through those issues based on the health advice, so we will have more to say about that,” she told KIIS FM. “But we will be offering every Year 12 student in those eight LGAs the Pfizer vaccine so they can get vaccinated before they go back to school.”

The Australian understands it will not be compulsory for ­students to be vaccinated, and that the Department of Education held talks with principals during which the possibility of pupils receiving jabs next week was discussed. A final decision was expected by Monday.

NSW Secondary Principals Council president Craig Petersen said the announcement had taken school heads by surprise.

“There is a large number of students, not just in Year 12. There are also younger students setting the HSC,” he said. “It’s a significant number. Logistically, is it possible to vaccinate all those students and staff in a 2½-week period?”

Mr Petersen said it had not been specified if teachers and staff would also be included in the vaccination drive, saying that “our position is that all teachers must be vaccinated as a matter of priority”.

NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said the proposition was not “steeped in reality”. “Teachers can see what is obvious for all to see – that this defies logic, health advice and science,” he said.

Mahad Amer, 17, is a Year 12 student at Mitchell High School in Blacktown who is keen to return to the classroom after a “roller ­coaster” year.

“I want to go back to face-to-face learning as it’s the best way to learn anything that will improve my grades way more than anything I can achieve on my own,” he said. Mr Amer said he would ­gladly take the Pfizer jab to allow him to go back to class, though he remained concerned that many older people, including his own parents, had been unable to get the jab.

“I’d rather have my parents get the Pfizer vaccine earlier than their scheduled appointment, which was not available to them before later in the year … clearly they are at more risk.”

Mr Amer said his HSC trials were scheduled to take place on August 16 – the same day as Year 12 students would return to campus – and would hopefully be able to go ahead now.