Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-Jko
COTABATO CITY (SDN) — Construction of school buildings and community facilities continued at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The series of construction of new school buildings to add more much-needed classrooms in the Bangsamoro region is part of the reform initiatives of the BARMM’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal.
Lack of enough classrooms is a serious problem in the Philippines which in the BARMM is being addressed through the MBHTE, one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro government.
One of the latest is the groundbreaking the education ministry conducted on October 30 for the construction of a two-storey school building with four classrooms at Datu Ayunan National High School (DANHS) in Barangay Bucana, MB Kalanganan in the city.
The MBHTE has allocated a total of Php11,504,500 budget for the construction subsidized under the General Appropriations Act for the Bangsamoro (GAAB) 2024.
MBHTE’s new school building aims to provide Bangsamoro learners with a conducive learning environment that caters to their needs, to ensure that no Bangsamoro learner is left behind.
In another groundbreaking ceremony the MBHTE is building a Covered Court with Bleacher and a Stage at Baguadatu Elementary School (BES) in Barangay Damalusay, Datu Paglas, Maguindanao del Sur.
The budget for the project amounts to Php6,957,067.04 is to be funded under the GAAB 2024 as well.
Its construction offers a flexible space for school activities and community events, encouraging physical education and recreation, helping students grow and develop.
Under the leadership of Iqbal, who wears many hats in the Mindanao peace process, the education ministry has been striving to raise the quality of education in the region, supplying and distributing IT equipment, constructing new school buildings, hiring of teaching and non-teaching personnel, distribution of school supplies and other related-school supplies, and others.
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. — EDD K. USMAN (✓)