Assigned as poll workers, some at-risk teachers fret over COVID-19 exposure

By Khin Tharaphy Oo 22 Oct 2020

Khin Tharaphy Oo | DMG
22 October 2020, Sittwe 

As Myanmar barrels toward the November 8 election amid a pandemic, some of the teachers who will serve as poll workers are worried about the risk of contracting COVID-19 as an outbreak that began in mid-August shows no sign of abating.  

The typically close quarters of polling stations — and for some of these teachers, their own advanced age and potential comorbidities — are of greater concern than the armed conflict that has prompted the cancellation of elections in several Arakan State constituencies. 

“We are not worried about safety, because the election will be held at the wards in downtown areas where the situation is peaceful. We are just worried about the gathering of people,” said U Aung Aung, a primary school headmaster from Ann Township. 

Due to the ongoing spread of coronavirus in the state, a directive from the Arakan State education officer has instructed the respective township education officers not to give polling station assignments to teachers who are elderly, pregnant or have other diseases. 

“There has been phone instruction not to assign old staff, and those with diabetes or high blood pressure,” Arakan State Education Officer U Tin Thein told DMG last month. 

But sources in education said there have been assignments made without apparently taking into consideration these factors.  

In Taungup, a 59-year-old teacher with diabetes is worried about being posted at a polling station on Election Day.  

“My health condition is not very good and I am not confident about my health. I am just worried,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity. 

Election subcommissions say they have arranged polling stations to ensure that voters are able to follow guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Sports on social distancing and related COVID-19 protocols. 

“There are instructions made by the Ministry of Health and Sports relating to COVID-19. We have distributed these instructions to township commissions. We have prepared to make sure people stay 6 feet apart. There will be hand-washing basins and sanitisers. We have also prepared so that the entrances are not congested,” said the Thandwe District election subcommission chairman, U Tin Thein. 

Thousands of teachers will be posted to hundreds of polling stations in eight Arakan State townships on November 8. That includes 1,062 teachers at 194 polling stations in Kyaukphyu Township on the high end, and 136 teachers assigned to just eight polling places in Ann Township, which will hold elections in only parts of the township, according to the respective townships’ education officers.  

At a virtual press conference on October 20, the Union Election Commission (UEC) said step-by-step procedures and instructions have been made to prevent against COVID-19 infections at polling stations on Election Day. 

About 150,000 teachers have been assigned to polling stations across the country on November 8, the basic education department has said.