COTABATO CITY — The Schools Division of Cotabato City (SDOCC) of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) conducted today, August 18, the grand inauguration and opening of the Cotabato City Bangsamoro Stand Alone Senior High School in Datu Balabaran, Tamontaka, Cotabato City.SDOCC Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Concepcion F. Balawag, CESO V, was proud to say that the school is the first-ever senior high school (SHS) stand-alone built not only in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) but also in the whole country.
It can be recalled that last April 4, 2023, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Region 12 turned over the full authority and administration of the school to the MBHTE, one of the primary ministries of the BARMM government.
Consisting of six four-storey buildings with a total of 120 classrooms, SDS Balawag believed that the school will be beneficial to thousands of SHS learners of the city and the nearby towns of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Bangsamoro Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal emphasized that maintaining the integrity and longevity of the newly opened school is a shared responsibility of all the members of Bangsamoro education community.
“With this new building, we have been given the opportunity to shape not only the physical landscape but also the intellectual and emotional landscape of our school and Bangsamoro learners,” he said.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Susana S. Anayatin, one of the vice chairpersons of Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Committee on Basic, Higher and Technical Education, said she will allot budget from her Transitional Development Impact Fund (TDIF) for the establishment of the comfort rooms inside the school premises.
The MBHTE also provided 370 leaner’s kits to all Grade 11 students and each of the teachers also received teaching kits.
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 del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the SGA’s 63 barangays or villages that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided 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. (✓)