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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — A total of 700 scholars of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) Access to Higher and Modern Education (AHME) Scholarship Program have signed their scholarship contracts on September 5.
The scholars for the 4th Cohort of AHME Scholarship Program also were handed their respective Notice of Award as beneficiaries of the free education initiative of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
MBHTE’s Directorate General Higher Education (DGHE) organized the Mass Signing Scholarship Contracts and Handover of Notice of Award to the 700 learners. It was held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC) here in the city, the capital of the BARMM.
The MBHTE, one of the BARMM’s 15 primary ministries, said each of the scholars stand to receive Php30,000 per semester for four years (Php60,000 per academic year). With a four-year duration, the AHME Scholarship Program’s 4th Cohorts come from the Bangsamoro region’s various component areas.
Established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the Bangsamoro region 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.
MBHTE Deputy Minister Haron S. Meling underscored that the scholarship program is more than just the allowance the students receive, it is the trust of today’s government to these students’ abilities and determination to be professionals who can help the future of the Bangsamoro region.
The scholars from Cotabato City, Maguindanao, and Special Geographic Area’s communities who signed their contracts also received school supplies and materials from the Ministry’s Project Iqbal.
Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Lamitan City, and Sulu scholars have already signed their contracts last August 31. Tawi-Tawi scholars are scheduled to sign their contracts on September 25. — EDD K. USMAN via MBHTE (✓)