Anti-vax teachers in Kuwait stage sit-in against testing, vaccine measures

Anti-vax Kuwaiti teachers staged a sit-in in front of the education ministry on Tuesday to protest a decision to ban unvaccinated teachers from entering schools without taking a weekly coronavirus test.

The protesters raised banners and chanted slogans saying they should have the right to refuse the vaccine and that weekly PCR tests would be an infringement of their personal freedoms.

A number of students' parents showed up at the protest in solidarity.

كرة الثلج تتدحرج و تكبر
لابد للمعنيين أن يستوعبوا :
الصامتون خرجوا وعلت أصواتهم .. لا اجبار للمعلمين ..سؤال برئ : هل أصبح طرد المعلم قيمة تربوية جديدة؟! #نرفض_المسحه_الاسبوعيه #اعتصام_المعلمين #وزارة_التربية pic.twitter.com/EeYumvbgEj

— عبدالله محمد الفضلي (@xabdullah87x) September 21, 2021

The Kuwaiti ministry of education last week announced that a teacher who is absent for 15 days will be fired from their job immediately.

It means that those who refuse to get vaccinated or tested against the deadly virus are at risk of losing their jobs if they avoid school.

Kuwait is preparing to bring all primary and secondary school students back to classrooms at the beginning of October for the first time since the pandemic, after nearly 18 months of schools closing their doors.