Teachers ready for automated polls

MANILA, Philippines — After three years of automated polls, teachers are now more prepared to perform elections duties, according to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said the teachers serving as Board of Elections Inspectors in the coming May 13 midterm polls have better grasp of electronic voting and counting.

“This time, I’m sure that there will be improvement over the years,” Dela Peña noted during the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the DOST, Department of Education and Commission on Elections on the roles of teachers in the coming polls.

Dela Peña recalled that when the country’s election was first automated in 2010, the teachers were hesitant to serve primarily because they were not familiar with “information technology.”

“They were afraid. Some even fainted and there were teachers who were really praying loud before their examination for IT certification,” he said.

Today, however, the teachers are younger and IT-savvy, so they expect the elections to be smooth, Dela Peña added.

Under the poll automation law, the DOST is mandated to certify one member of the three-man BEI in a polling precinct as “IT-capable to operate” the automated election system.