He did not say when the whole exercise involving the intake of 18,000 new teachers will be completed but added that the prolonged shortage over the past few years will be solved.

“The ministry will give priority to Sabah and Sarawak. Besides the two states, Johor is experiencing a shortage of teachers,” he told reporters after a working visit to Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Matang Jaya here today.

In the Dewan Rakyat last week, senior education minister Radzi Jidin said based on the ministry’s data, there were 21,564 vacancies for teachers nationwide as at Sept 19.

Meanwhile, Sarawak education department director Norisah Suhaili said of the 39,000 teachers in the state, less than 1% have yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccination.

“There are teachers who refused to be vaccinated for health and religious reasons while the rest said they were still unprepared. The ministry will continue to call them up for face-to-face meetings to advise them,” she said.