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COTABATO CITY — More school buildings are rising in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a critical component of initiatives to improve the quality of education, not just in the BARMM but across the Philippines.
And it is more especially important to construct new school buildings and add more classrooms, so learners won’t be crowding, which is not conducive to learning.
The construction of new school buildings is a task under the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal. MBHTE is one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).
On October 16, 2024, the MBHTE held a turnover ceremony for the construction of a school building in Pebpoloan High School (PHS), Barangay Pebpoloan in Carmen, SGA (Special Geographic Area)
The new school building project is funded under the GAAB (General Appropriations Act of the Bangsamoro) 2022, amounting to Php4,206,773.60.
MBHTE’s new building is set to provide students with improved facilities and a conducive learning environment, ensuring everyone has access to quality and inclusive education.
Earlier, the Ministry held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 14 for the construction of two one-storey with two-classroom buildings at Kayaga Elementary School (KES) in Pandag, and Tamar Elementary School (TES) in Brgy. Tamar, Talayan, Maguindanao del Sur. These projects are funded under GAAB 2024, with a total amount of Php10,163,179.73.
These new buildings are part of the ongoing efforts of the MBHTE to provide accessible education, ensuring that no Bangsamoro learner will be left behind.
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. (✓)