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By EDD K. USMAN & JOHAIRA SAHIDALA |
Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal has granted a total of Php24.9-million scholarship stipend to 8,318 learners.
This, apparently, is the MBHTE living up to its vision enunciated in the maxim, “No Bangsamoro child is left behind”. Each of the learner received Php3,000.
Iqbal’s MBHTE is one of the primary governance agencies of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao (now split as Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 barangays or villages dubbed Special Geographic Area (SGA) that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.
MBHTE’s stipend for the more than eight thousand learners come from its Standard Madrasah Curriculum (SMC) given out on April 3. The Php3,000 stipend for each learner is a “one-time scholarship fund.
These “qualified and needy” beneficiaries determined by school heads based on the selection criteria, following the issued Regional Memorandum (RM) No. 896-B, Series of 2022, the education ministry said.
Iqbal emphasized the scholarship beneficiaries underwent validation and assessment.
MBHTE also provides aid for Typhoon Paeng-damaged schools
“The Ministry exerts rigorous efforts to provide quality services and programs among all recognized Madrasah, both for its teachers and learners,” explained.
Meanwhile, the education ministry also provided cash assistance to performing schools, including those which were devastated by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng last October 29, 2022.
With a total of 468 identified performing schools, 178 schools received Php50,000 while Php25,000 and Php20,000 were given to 106 and 184 schools, respectively.
Accordingly, the support provided will cover the costs of repairs and maintenance of public school facilities under the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) Allotment Class with unit prices below Php50,000.00 in accordance with Commission on Audit (COA) Circular 004-2022 dated May 31, 2022.
On top of this, a total of 210 schools that were “badly affected” Paeng received financial assistance worth Php50,000 and Php30,000. These schools were classified as ‘severely and moderately affected’. (Bangsamoro Information Office, with reports from MBHTE) — (✓)