Teachers should be teaching, not involved in election: Official

TEACHERS were trained to teach in classrooms and not conduct the elections, a senior education official says.
Waigani Primary School head teacher, Moses Modakewau had raised concerns that some schools in the National Capital District (NCD) had faced many challenges during the absence of teachers in the classrooms throughout the General Elections 2022 (GE22) and his school was one of them.
“With some of our teachers helping out as presiding officers, scrutineers, polling and counting officials, others back at the schools had to double up classes and the increased enrolment this year had presented its own challenges,” he said.
“Teachers themselves know the immense pressure when they had to double up two or three classes when there is the issue of overcrowding.”
Modakewau said it was not fair for their colleagues who were stepping in for them to take up their workloads while these teachers were absent but were still on full pay.
“Being teachers by profession, they are still on full pay even when they are not in class teaching and as election officials, they are also on the Electoral Commission’s pay roll,” he said, adding that in future elections, teachers should be exempted from participating in elections.
The head teacher said teachers had the responsibility to teach the future generation of this nation and should be present in class at all times to teach.