NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has cleared the confusion around the status of unvaccinated teachers.

NSW public schools are attempting to get on the front foot by beginning a four-week “blitz” to stop COVID-19 from spreading.

Nine million RAT kits will be handed out during the first few weeks of term three, cleaners at all public schools will increase their schedules and affected schools could be directed to work from home if needed.

There is also confusion over when unvaccinated teachers are returning to the classroom.

NSW One Nation Leader Mark Latham stated: “Unvaccinated teachers and other school staff are now delayed (again) by the department to start work on 1 August”.

Over the weekend, it was reported the vaccine mandate had been dropped, but in the past 24 hours, those reports might have changed.

More than 1000 unvaccinated teachers would be eligible to reapply for their jobs.

Sarah Mitchell told Ben Fordham the teachers will be able to come back from the start of week three.

“If we don’t do the consultation properly we could have found ourselves in breach of work health and safety legislation.”

Minister Sarah Mitchell also told Ben despite the spike in COVID-19 cases, overall rules won’t be tightened.

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview and the Minster clarify the rules