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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — Monitor and warn private schools operating without the necessary authority.
This is the instructions of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE).
In relation with this, MBHTE headed by Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal has tasked its Directorate General for Basic Education (DGBE) through its Quality Assurance Division (QAD) to enjoin “all schookls division offices (SDOs) to monitor and warn unauthorized private schools that have been operating without approved Permit to Operate (PTO) and report the same to the Ministry for appropriate actions”.
Iqbal issued Regional Memorandum No. 652, Series of 2023, dated August 24 addressed to Director General for Basic Education Abdullah P. Salik, Jr., Margie G. Pendulat, Schools Division Superintendents, and All Others Concerned.
With the subject, “Private Schools Operating without Permit to Operate for a Particular School Year and Tuition Fee Increase”, MBHTE Deputy Minister Haron S. Meling, a lawyer, signed the memo on behalf of the education minister.
Included in the memos’ coverage are private schools that have not yet applied for the renewal of their Permit for the School Year (SY) 2023-2024.
The memo further emphasized that “Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) and Learners Information System (LIS) of private schools that continuously operate without renewed PTO will be locked temporarily.” (underscoring by MBHTE)
Also part of the memo is for SDOs to “monitor and warn private schools of any unauthorized revision of tuition or school fees and report the same to the Ministry for appropriate action”.
It can be recalled the Department of Education (DepEd) under the leadership of Vice President Inday Sara Duterte, concurrent Secretary of Education, opened the first day of classes on August 29. More than 22 million learners are enrolled this year.
Over at the Bangsamoro region, the MBHTE has recorded enrollees numbering 1,258,253 students, to wit: 1,119,391 students in Basic education, 63,565 in Secondary education, 55,172 in Madaris (Islamic Schools), and 20,195 in Higher Education, spread across 4,635 schools, including community learning centers, AKAP learning centers, Madrasah (singular of Madaris), and training centers.
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 del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 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. — EKU (✓)