Thursday, April 26, 2007
College students in future polls?
EDUCATION officials in Cebu believe that apart from teachers, college students can also be credible poll watchers in future local and national elections.
Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Regional Director Carolino Mordeno said there are not enough public school teachers in the region to act as poll watchers, and that college students should be tapped for the task.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007
He said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) needs more than 700,000 teachers nationwide to cover all the precincts in the country, but DepEd can provide only 500,000 qualified teachers.
In Central Visayas alone, the 24,000 poll precincts will need at least 72,000 teachers but there are only around 33,000 teachers who are qualified to serve.
Although private school teachers and government employees may also help in the elections as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), Mordeno said college students should also be considered as possible substitutes of DepEd personnel in the BEI.
Besides, he said, the population of college students is larger than public school teachers.
“College students already have common sense and are responsible,” Mordeno told Sun.Star Cebu.
Like former education secretary Raul Roco who wanted students to help in the elections, Mordeno encouraged college students in the region to play an active role in electoral processes in the future, especially since election education is integrated in their social studies subject.
Seeing the potential of college students in becoming BEI members, Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7 Director Enrique Grecia agreed with Mordeno’s recommendation.
“I would not object to having the students act as poll watchers in the future. They are honest and idealistic. And poll watching is a concrete form of citizenship. I would recommend that as well,” Grecia said.
While Ched will not be directly involved in the May 14 election, he said the agency can be tapped for additional poll watchers, including college teachers and students.
“But this will depend on the administration of the school, if they want to participate or not,” Grecia said.
In an interview yesterday, Mordeno said trainings and seminars helped public school teachers prepare for their tasks during the election.
He added that teachers were chosen to serve during the election “because of the big number of DepEd personnel, because the people still believe in and trust their integrity and because teachers are very patient.” (NRC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 26, 2007 issue)
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