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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech & Digital News
COTABATO CITY (SDN) — All that children of poor parents wants is a fighting chance which only education can provide.
But struggling parents’ priorities — no blame on them — are food and other basic necessities. Education, more instances than not, takes a backseat. Filling up one’s stomach is top on the list.
A multidimensional poverty index (MPI) the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) found out in a study in 2018 seemed to show a vicious cycle involving the relation between poverty and lack of access to education.
The MPI showed lack of access to education as the top indicator of poverty among Filipino families. Completing the four MPIs are housing, water and sanitation; health and nutrition; and employment, as reported by the Philippine Star newspaper that year.
Well, that appears to confirm — and drives home the fact that — children from poor families have less access to education for a fighting chance to fulfill their dreams of a better life. The meager money their struggling parents have they spend on food and other basic necessities.
And, if by chance, these children from money-starved families get to elementary, high school and graduate because of free education in public schools, the lack of money stares them in the face in college.
It’s the same cycle, poor high school students facing a dead end, their dreams to improve their life dying a natural death, so to speak.
And it’s one of the biggest woes Philippine education faces: the case of students dropping out. With no money to finance their college education, it’s a dead end for poor students. Food on the table is more urgently needed than a diploma.
In order to have the chance to escape the clutches of poverty, you have to study and finish your college degree. In order to have a college degree, you have to have money for your education.
Sounds simple?
No, it is the vicious cycle that impacts social services and a burden on resources as the government has to spend more for assistance to the poor.
In the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the regional government has come up with a solution to help poor but deserving graduating senior high school and Alternative Learning System (ALS) students proceed to college. With problems about tuition not weighing them down.
This is through the Access to Higher and Modern Education, or AHME, Scholarship Program. AHME may also mean Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, the BARMM Chief Minister and Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). AHME provides Php60,000 per scholar every academic year.
AHME is being implemented under Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), one of the 15 primary governance organs of the regional government.
On April 18, the MBHTE gathered the 1,400 AHME scholars, the 1st Cohort or Batch, who are candidates for graduation this year. Celebrating the AHME scholarship beneficiaries, many of them former combatants, spouses, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) who fought for equality in education, among others, was a milestone by itself.
At the celebratory event held at the Bangsamoro Government Center’s (BGC) Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC) here, Iqbal recalled AHME’s launch some years back. The BARMM was established in 2019.
Iqbal, who wears many hats in the Mindanao peace process, has spoken about AHME’s objectives, which revolves around creating “opportunities for the youth to gain access to quality higher education, to empower them to build a better future for themselves, and, in turn, to contribute to the growth and development of the Bangsamoro region.”
It injects pride in the BARMM, in general, and in the MBHTE, in particular, to see a huge number of AHME scholars, hopefully, on the way to making their dreams of a better life come true.
The BARMM education chief since 2019 spoke about the dreams of the Bangsamoro youth, whose education had taken the backseat for many unproductive and idle years because of decades of the Mindanao war.
“Today, as I look at all of you, our first graduates under the AHME Program, I am filled with pride and optimism. I can see that dreams will become a reality for these youth and their families.”
MBHTE calls for new AHME applicants for AY 2024-2025
“Dreams” of a better life. That, for sure, is foremost in the minds of the 1,400 graduating AHME scholars, as voiced by Summa cum Laude candidate Catherine Joyce Arandia, Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BS N) at San Pedro College, Davao City, Davao del Sur, Southern Philippines.
“AHME scholarship is more than financial support. It is a representation of hope and how it can transform our lives where dreams are not just dreams; it can be a reality to those who dared and persevered,” Arandia emphasizes, as she looked beyond the MBHTE scholarship’s monetary benefit.
She delivered a message at the AHME celebration, as she thanked those behind the scholarship also known as Bangsamoro IQ Scholar, a flagship scholarship program of the regional government. Of course, “IQ” is also a well-known nickname of the Bangsamoro education chief.
The AHME scholar, of course, expressed her “deepest appreciation” to the BARMM government, thanking Ebrahim, Iqbal, and others who were instrumental in the implementation of the scholarship program for qualified and deserving students in the region. It supplements the regional government’s other scholarship programs.
“It has not only opened a door of prospective careers, but also of passion in excellence and dedication in crafts. Through AHME scholarship, I am able to rear my skills and knowledge to overcome challenges and contribute to the holistic formation of our society,” Arandia says.
She thanked her parents as well as her siblings who pushed her to not give up on her dreams.
For there was a time when the global coronavirus pandemic dashed her hopes four years ago, losing hopes of getting access to higher education.
But the AHME scholarshipn gave her break, a program focused on STEM (Science, Technology, English and Math) courses. It came like manna from Heaven.
“This scholarship is beyond funding education; it is you investing in our potential and capabilities and for a brighter future. Your commitment to hone a promising generation who will lead and care for others is a cornerstone to a fruitful tomorrow,” Arandia points out.
Lastly, she trained her sights on her fellow AHME scholars as she exhorts them to follow their dreams without fear.
“Indeed, the sun is burning hotter these days, and so is our passion. Hence, put faith in action and go forth fearlessly, for the pursuit of brighter tomorrow lies within you.”
In a related development, Iqbal’s office has announced the start of the application for the AHME 2nd Cohort, from May 1 to May 24, 2024, for Academic Year (AY) 2024-2025 for the 2nd Cohort or Batch. (✓)