Christian schools are calling on the Queensland Government to treat schools to same way as the healthcare sector has been treated, and be provided with a sensible approach to responding to critical workforce shortages.
‘The healthcare sector has been provided with a conditional exemption of up to four months to deal with critical workforce shortages,’ said Christian Schools Australia Director of Public Policy, Mark Spencer.
‘In contrast the education sector is only provided with a one-month exemption, which is a recipe for further disruption to student learning in the context of a ten week school term.’
‘With other states already planning for significant staffing shortages due to staff absences in Term One it is vital that we can tap into all available teacher resources when we can do so safely’ he said.
‘Amendment of the health directions to allow for a three month exemption, covering Term One, and the use of daily rapid antigen tests rather than requiring daily PCR tests, would take an incredible strain off regional and rural schools in particular.’
‘Schools have all worked incredibly hard over the last two years to keep students and staff safe while still providing a high quality education’, Mr Spencer said, ‘with experts warning of the impact of continued disruption on young people we need to take all the sensible steps we can to minimise that disruption.’
Christian Schools Australia has written to the Health Minister and the Chief Health Officer requesting amendments to the current health directions.
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