10 May 2010: With general elections in the country round the corner, the Election Commission office in Falam Township, Chin state western Burma is imparting short term training for work related to the polls to school teachers since April.

“The training began last month and is related to the 2010 elections, military and Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) affairs,” said a woman teacher in Falam town.

“High school teachers are being called as the first batch for the training by members of the Election Commission and headmasters. After completion of training of high school teachers, middle and primary school teachers will follow suit. Each batch will have 10 trainees,” said a local school teacher.

The short training also entails teachers having to persuade their students to cast votes for USDA party in the forthcoming election. It will also explain about how USDA was established and its main objectives, he added.

An educational refresher training course is conducted in Chin state during the summer session but this time the authorities have replaced it with the election short training programme.

Although the junta has allowed party activities officially to the USDA, other parties do not have the same privilege and cannot campaign officially. –