October 5, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 27, 1423

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SWABI, Oct 4: The training of teachers for the coming elections has affected academic activities at the government colleges and schools in the district as about 95 per cent of election staff has been drawn from the teachers’ community.

The training has started on Sept 22 and it is expected to complete on Saturday.

All the presiding and assisting presiding officers were required to attend the training.

The principals and headmasters of those schools from where the teaching staff had gone for training, had been forced to close the institutions.

Although they have not taken any permission from the higher authorities in this regard but they maintained that they had no other option as it was not possible to run school without teachers.

“The other day there was no teacher in our school. Students had come but after second period we had no option and the peons were told to close the school. Similarly, other schools in the area also adopted the same policy,” said Ghareeb Shah of the Maneri school.

Requesting anonymity, a teacher of the government high school Topi told this correspondent that not all the teachers were getting training on Wednesday, but the remaining staff was not in a position to handle the school and the principal had to order closure of the institution.

Colleges have also suffered as most of their periods have not been taken by the lectures due to their election duties.

All the college teachers have been assigned the job of presiding officers while the teachers of the schools have been made assistant presiding officers.

Original ID CARDS: Those who have already received training told this correspondent that they were ordered that without original identity card no one would be allowed to cast his vote.

“Photocopy of the ID card would not be acceptable and those who allowed casting of vote through it would face the consequences,” said an assisting presiding officer Mohammad Amin.

He said they were also told to be very careful about fake ID cards and were taught techniques to recognise such ID cards.