Lapus: Teachers ready for poll duty
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli A. Lapus saidt public school teachers throughout the country are prepared to perform their role in today's synchronized local and national elections.
School teachers are deputized as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) and the Board of Canvassers (BOCs) in all the polling places nationwide. As such, they will assist the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the supervision and control of the election in their assigned areas.
"Teachers will again play a vital role in elections," Lapus said. "We therefore recognize the need to provide them with the capability to perform their electoral duties well."
"At the same time, we also recognize the need to ensure the welfare of our teachers," Lapus added. "That is why we have created a command center at the central office that connects to the field offices so that we can quickly respond to any emergency."
Teachers have attended seminar workshops on how to effectively exercise poll duties. This involved an orientation-training on the technical and legal aspects of elections and the teachers' public duties and ethical obligations in safeguarding the integrity of elections.
"We cannot afford to leave to chance the effective performance of our electoral responsibilities," Lapus explained. "We have trained our teachers so that they can best ensure that all voters who come to the various polling places are able to exercise their right of suffrage without difficulty and that their votes are properly counted."
Earlier, DepEd formed a national Election Task Force. Chaired by Undersecretary for Regional Operations Ramon Bacani and Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Franklin Sunga, the task force shall oversee DepEd operations and provide prompt technical, legal and emergency assistance to teachers.
(DepEd)