MELAKA: School administrators have the authority to inspect a teacher's vaccination certificate beginning today, says Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

He said the move was to ensure that no teacher fails to adhere to the circular issued by the Public Service Department (PSD) which made it compulsory for civil servants to get vaccinated.

"Beginning today, schools will check the digital vaccination certificate. We want to know if teachers are telling the truth if they have been vaccinated or have not been vaccinated.

"We do not want to deal with cases where they claim to have been vaccinated but in actual fact, they have yet to be vaccinated and so on.

"And we will be sure to check the vaccination certificate of the teachers to ensure that the data we have is accurate comes Nov 1. The move is also to enable us to take the necessary action and the action taken is based on accurate data," he told reporters after having an engagement session at Sekolah Kebangsaan Ayer Molek here today.

In a latest circular, PSD said it was mandatory for all civil servants including teachers to be fully vaccinated before Nov 1 or disciplinary action including dismissal, will be taken against them.

Radzi said the move was to ensure that teachers and the Education Ministry create a safe environment for school children and students at a time when the country is still facing the COVID-19 threat.

"We must understand that teachers are constantly with their pupils and parents.

"So, it is very important for teachers and the Education Ministry to create a safe environment and convince parents that schools are actually a safe area. Therefore, it is important for teachers to be vaccinated," he said.

Meanwhile, Radzi said a total of 694,531 Year One, Two and Three students while 652,142 Form Three and Four students have started attending schools in states under Phase Four of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) namely Melaka, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

-- BERNAMA