KUALA PILAH: The reluctance of a group of teachers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the moment has slightly affected the teaching and learning process in schools, said Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

He said although their number was only around 2,000 out of the total of about 415,000 teachers in the country, it still affected administration at the schools.

"...the number is very small but as there are some of such teachers teaching the same subject, so how to teach (the subject)?

"There are also such teachers who are the only ones teaching certain subjects, so these schools will have no teachers for these subjects," he told reporters after viewing the first day of school at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tunku Kurshiah, here, today.

Radzi said the decision to transfer the unvaccinated teachers to other places was not a threat but it involved the schools' administration while the Public Service Department required civil servants to be vaccinated before Nov 1.

Meanwhile, he said the Education Ministry was still studying the proposal to change the start of the school session from January to March and making next year's session as a guideline.

He added that the ministry also took into consideration the engagement with the stakeholders including parents and teachers who gave positive feedback including on the managing of examinations during the monsoon season in some states.

-- BERNAMA