BARMM News:
By EDD K. USMAN | @edd1819 | @bluestar0910 | SDN — Science and Digital News
Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-hA8
(SDN) — School buildings and facilities like never before are being constructed in the Bangsamoro region led by Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim.
It’s a sort of a “construction boom” as the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Minister Mohagher Iqbal has been funding and providing school buildings to add classrooms and other facilities to various parts of the region.
Like in other parts of the country there’s a sore lack of classrooms, more so it appears in the areas covered by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Needless to say, previous regional governments under the defunct ARMM barely paid attention to this lack, or not at all. Education of Moro youths is the victim.
Comprising the BARMM) are Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi as well as 63 villages designated as Special Geographic Area (SGA) in North Cotabato province (which itself is not part of the region).
With the new BARMM new political entity (NPE), the education landscape is changing for the better as the NPE under Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim addresses one of the sore needs of the local Muslims, education backed by enough school classrooms. competent teachers, and dedicated and committed bureaucracy, as well as students hungry for knowledge.
And this is happening under the leadership of Iqbal, a stalwart in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Mindanao peace, his ministry has been addressing the education-related needs of the BARMM population by building schools and providing facilities, aside from attending to the non-physical aspect of education.
Just recently he turned over Php5.7 the education ministry turned over worth of school building project and facilities in Maguindanao schools through its Education Facilities Section.
BARMM flagship programs on education
The 🏫 Libutan Elementary School (LES) Annex in Barangay East Libutan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha Municipality, received a 1-storey building with two classrooms serving as its flagship. It costs Php4,238,297.21 from MBHTE’s 2020 Contingent Fund.
On the other hand, the 🏫 Bugawas Elementary School (BES) received a Water Source Development (WSD) located in Barangay Bugawas, Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipality. The WSD was funded from the 2020 Transitional Development Impact Fund (TDIF).
Meanwhile, the 🏫 Tubuan Elementary School (TES) in Barangay Tubuan, Datu Blah Sinsuat Municipality, also had the same WSD facility provided by the MBHTE as well. Funding amounting to Php438,860.56 from the 2020 TDIF.
In July 2020 Chief Minister Ebrahim and Minister Iqbal launched the Bangsamoro region’s educational flagship programs.
Covered in the MBHTE’s flagship programs per the Philippines News Agency (PNA) are “the Abot Kaalaman sa Pamilyang Bangsamoro (AKAP) to provide contextualized K to 3 education access to unserved barangays; the MBHTE Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) review program in partnership with the Office of the Chief Minister; and the Tahderiyyah curriculum program for Madaris education for a balanced education of BARMM children with groundings on Islamic tenets and values.
“Other integrated parts (are) the recruitment of teachers for the Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) programs; scholarship for the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program; a scholarship program for the entrepreneurial training, values transformation training, and national assessment, and the Access to Higher and Modern Education-Scholarship Program (AHME-SP).”
The BARMM education minister emphasized the need for the ministry to be “unwavering and innovative” in responding to the ‘new normal’ brought about by the pandemic.”
Iqbal said it was no longer enough to be “business-as-usual” in the implementation of projects, indicating a no-nonsense change of attitude. (/)