Schools fear flu season will worsen teacher shortage

Auckland schools fear they will not be able to cope with the winter flu season because there are not enough relief teachers left in the city to cover for sick teachers. Health Ministry figures show the number of influenza cases is beginning to grow after a slow start to the usual winter spike. That's worrying Auckland principals who say many schools have already hired their entire pool of relievers to cover for the city's teacher shortage and they won't have anyone to call on when teachers get sick. Here's our education correspondent, John Gerritsen.