The Northern Territory Education Department is scrambling to resolve a bureaucratic bungle that has left hundreds of staff — including many teachers — without authorisation to work with children.The Education Union president says it is a"major bungle"About 500 staff have been affected and dozens of teachers have been temporarily excluded from classrooms today because of the stuff-up.
But a backlog has meant hundreds of Education Department staff did not receive renewals before their Ochre Cards expired.Schools impacted across NT"I know there's a number of schools where operations have been affected today, with some cases of 15 or 20 teachers being instructed they had to remain at their desks and couldn't have contacts with children," he said.
"As a precautionary measure, there have been instances today where teachers without current clearance have been required to perform duties outside of the classroom," the department said in a statement.It said no schools had been closed as a result of the issue.The union said the issue had created significant concern among its members."There needs to be a full investigation as to how this was ever allowed to eventuate.
The Territory Families Department said it had already processed 700 temporary exemptions this month, which is at least three times more than it usually processes.Safe NT assistant director Donna Quong said the organisation had been working to process up to 500 Ochre Card applications made by teachers.