ISLAMABAD: The inaugural ceremony of Pre-Service Training (PST) of the newly inducted election officers (BS-17) was held at Federal Elections Academy on Monday.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sikander Sultan Raja was the chief guest of the ceremony. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members, secretary, officers, provincial election commissioners and development partners members attended the ceremony.
The CEC officially inaugurated the PST programme. In his address to the ceremony, he congratulated the newly inducted officers.
He said it is for the very first time that the ECP has inducted such a big number of officers through a very fair, transparent and merit-based process.
He added to ensure merit, technology used during the recruitment process.
The CEC said to ensure implementation of Section 12 (a) of the Election Act, the ECP had started that training programme in the Federal Elections Academy. This 16-week long training programme is of a unique kind which had been designed by the team of Federal Elections Academy by tirelessly working day and night, he said.
The election commission secretary while addressing the ceremony thanked the CEC and members for their support during the recruitment process and arrangements of the PST programme.
He said for 75 posts of election officers more than 100, 000 applications were received and more than 50, 000 candidates appeared in the written test. Shortlisted candidates had to appear in another written test and an interview after which 75 officers were finally recruited.
He said the PST programme comprised 300 marks and the inter-seniority of the freshly recruited officers would be determined by their performance during the training.
FEA Director Admin Mukhi Bano while introducing the training programme said there are 18 modules of the PST which would not only contain electoral laws and knowledge of the electoral process but also include office management, leadership skills, international best practices, media management, etcetera.
Institutions like the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services, Secretariat Training Institute, Information Service Academy and ECP’s development partners would also assist the FEA in some modules, she added.
ECP members and provincial election commissioners while addressing the ceremony congratulated the freshly recruited officers and stressed the importance of PST in the career-building of the officers.