TACLOBAN CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has trained 3,850 public school teachers in Eastern Visayas who will serve as members of the Electoral Board for the May 9, 2022 polls.
The number of teachers trained as of March 8 is just 14.7 percent of the 12,542 teachers required to undergo training on how to operate the vote-counting machines (VCMs), the Comelec regional office here told reporters on Thursday.
Of the 3,850 teachers who completed the training, 2,020 are from Leyte province; 600 from Northern Samar; 150 from Eastern Samar; and 1,080 from Samar.
The training is from March 1 to 31, 2022. To ensure the safety of participants, antigen testing is done before the two-day training per batch of 16 classes.
“The first day of training is devoted to theoretical aspects while the second day is on the practical aspects which covers familiarization, troubleshooting and how to operate the VCMs,” the Comelec said.
Apart from the lectures, the participants undergo examinations, which include theoretical and practical, on using the VCMs, it added.
For the region, some 18,813 teachers will serve during the national and local elections, but only those who will operate the VCM are required to join the training.
Earlier, the Comelec trained 4,352 Department of Education supervisor officials and technical support staff.
They are the ones who will provide VCM technical support.
Some 3,564 teachers will serve as safety protocol support staff to ensure that the minimum public health standards will be observed within the voting centers since the Covid-19 pandemic threat remains. (PNA)