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COTABATO CITY — The Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) Bureau for Alternative Learning System (BALS), in collaboration with the Department of Education-Bureau of Alternative Education (DepEd-BAE) has conducted a specialized training course for 96 ALS teachers of Lanao del Sur I, Lanao del Sur II, and Marawi City schools division offices (SDOs).
Held on October 6 to 10, the training was supported by the UNICEF and co-funded by the European Union (EU).
MBHTE headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal is one of the Bangsamoro government’s 15 primary ministries.
The training held at Go Hotel in Iligan City aimed to equip ALS teachers and enhance their skills and methodologies to improve the education system, particularly in conflict-affected areas (CAAs), providing opportunities for out-of-school youth, children, adults, and other vulnerable learners.
Facilitators included those with distinguished training who shared their expertise, such as Rolly S. Ortiz, Jr., Education Program Specialist II for ALS, SDO Bukidnon; Domingo D. Cortes, Jr., Education Program Specialist II for ALS, SDO General Santos City; and Ms. Freizie Hazil G. Naranjo, Education Program Specialist II for ALS, SDO Misamis Occidental, and the selected ALS trainers from the schools division of Cotabato City.
This initiative is part of broader efforts to strengthen the education system and promote sustainable peace and development in the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), especially in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the 2017 Marawi siege.
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, 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. 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. (✓)