Schools request 30% additional staff

Large number of people assigned for election duties did not show up for training

LAHORE: The Punjab School Education Department (SED) has asked for 30% additional staff as a backup for General Elections 2018. This is due to the shortage of staff at polling stations during the voting process.

The department has written a letter to district education authorities’ (DEAs) chief Executive officers (CEOs) to arrange for the staff from their jurisdiction.

The letter read: “As you are well aware, election duties for presiding officers, senior assistant presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers are being assigned in all districts by the district election commissioner for General Elections 2018.

However, it has been observed that there is a deficiency of staff at polling stations. Therefore, to overcome this deficiency, it is required to maintain close liaison with the district election commissioner for the provision of staff.

The issue arose as not all of the staff assigned for election duties showed up for training.

An official of the SED said around 30% of the staff assigned for election duties did not show turn up.



“This prompted the department to write this letter and ask for additional staff. Moreover, the CEOs of each district have also written letters to individuals who did not show up for the training and told them to be present for their assigned duties for elections,” the official said. He added the department was also going to keep reserve staff for the elections. For the purpose, the letter also told the CEOs of the SED in all districts of the province to assign additional staff for the elections.

“You are also requested to arrange at least 30% reserve staff for smooth conduction of General Elections, 2018.”

The official said due to the additional deployment, there would be around 15% more staffers present for the elections.

This election, additional staff has also been tasked with performing election duties. There would also be senior assistant presiding officers, apart from the presiding officer, who would take charge if the presiding officer failed to show up during the polls.

When contacted, ECP spokesperson Huda Gohar said the commission had asked for additional staff which would be in reserve in addition to the already deployed individuals.

To a question whether the reserve staff would be trained in time for the election, she said presiding officers were undergoing training and additional staff would also be trained along with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2018.