Election duty, a test of skills of new teachers

Teachers, who joined service after 2016, were deployed for poll duty for the first time after three days training by the Election Commission. However, the new teachers felt that it is not enough for them to carry out election related work effectively.

Most of the first time teachers could not handle the pressure. Many voters complained that work of the teachers in the polling stations were very slow and they do not know basic things, including how to apply ink on the fingers of the voters.

“Three days training is not enough for us. We need more time to learn this election work thoroughly,” a teacher, posted at a polling station, in Anakaputhur said.

EC sources said that the training was given to the teachers to work less than a minute for completing the formalities of a single voter. “A staff in my polling station took more than five minutes to handle a voter,” M Premakumari of Pammal alleged. She also claimed that many voters lost patience in the polling booth.