TEACHERS’ TRAINING FOR POLL DUTY

ANALYN C. ESTANDIAN, LPT, MAED

Public school teachers who will serve in the midterm elections on May 13, 2019 will get the necessary training and assistance, according to the Department of Education.

The DepEd said that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had recently signed a memorandum of agreement to train and assist teachers regarding their duties in the polls.

According to the agreement, the DepEd, Comelec and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will go hand-in-hand in the training of teachers who will go on poll duty.

The MOA states that the DOST is tasked specifically to train some of the teachers in the technology to be used in the elections. They will be provided “reasonable honoraria, travel allowance, as well as accommodation” while under training.

The DepEd said some 262,500 teachers will be needed to assist the polls, while the Comelec said that the Department of Budget and Management (BDM) had already allowed them get 25 percent of the first quarter budget.

The signing of the agreement marked the start of the training of the teachers, as Congress had already committed itself to pass the 2019 national budget after the first quarter. The Comelec said it is “safe” as far as paying is concerned. If it turns out that they don’t have any budget, it still has savings, amounting to some P4 billion, and they can use that to pay the teachers.

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The author is Teacher III at Calantas Elementary School, Floridablanca West District