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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — A total of 325 trainees under the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs have graduated recently in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The graduates took their TVET courses through the MBHTE’s Bangsamoro Islamic Program (BSP). They completed their respective courses with the graduation ceremony held at Maas Kamlon Hall, Mindanao State University-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (MSU-TCTO), located in Sanga-Sanga, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.
Headed by Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, the MBHTE is one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro government, a new political entity (NPE) that owes its establishment to the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and implemented by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
The graduates completed their training in the following fields:
- 1. Driving National Certificate (NC)-II
- 2. Bread and Pastry Production NC-II
- 3. Organic Agriculture Production NC-II
- 4. Computer System Servicing NC-II
- 5. Technical Drafting NC-II
This initiative, launched in 2020 and spearheaded by the MBHTE Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD), aims to provide essential skills training, thereby opening up new opportunities for individuals of all ages within the Bangsamoro region.
In his speech, Minister Iqbal congratulated the graduates and assured everyone that the Ministry will not waver in its goal to provide a better life for the Bangsamoro.
“We remain committed to building a stronger and more inclusive education system, where everyone, especially the poor, is provided equal opportunities in education,” he emphasized.
It can be recalled that since Iqbal assumed the leadership of the MBHTE in 2019, he has been implementing various initiatives to improve the quality of education in the Bangsamoro region, long starved of educational facilities, quality teachers, and dedicated personnel.
Thus, among the measures he put in place — and continues to do so — are construction of new school buildings (to increase classrooms) and facilities, hiring of thousands of new teaching and non-teaching personnel, distribution of IT equipment, Learners’ Kits, Teachers’ Kits, and other school-related supplies.
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 โYesโ in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction. With the recent plebiscite at SGA, the BARMM now has eight new municipalities as residents voted “Yes”.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities (plus eight newly established under the SGA: 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. — EDD K. USMAN/MBHTE (โ)