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COTABATO CITY — As the year 2025 rolls on, the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal continued its initiatives to raise the quality of education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
In connection with this, the MBHTE, one of the 15 primary ministries of the Bangsamoro government, has conducted a series of groundbreaking ceremonies in the region’s various school divisions.
One of these was held on January 9 for the construction of a one-storey with one-classroom school library in Tamontaka Central School in Cotabato City. This project will be subsidized under General Appropriations Act of the Bangsamoro (GAAB) 2024, with a budget of Php5,109,637.50.
Additionally, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Special Geographical Area (SGA) in Pikit, Cotabato, for the construction of a Land Development Building (LDP). With a cost amounting to Php12,152,000, this project will be funded under the Special Development Fund (SDF) 2023.
These new infrastructures are part of the Ministry’s initiative in improving school facilities, supporting the Bangsamoro goal of quality education and better learning opportunities for learners.
In related developments, the MBHTE held groundbreaking ceremony on January 8 for the construction of a two-storey with four-classroom Public Madrasah in Sitio Pagalungan, Bagua I, Cotabato City, with a cost totaling Php9,611,799.06, which will be funded under the SDF 2023.
Moreover, a one-storey school clinic will also be constructed in Manarapan, Kapalawan, SGA, amounting to Php2,303,159.92, to be subsidized under the SDF 2022.
Another groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 7 for the construction of a two-storey with four-classroom Public Madrasah in Barangay Kayaga, Pandag, Maguindanao Del Sur. This project, amounting to Php9,711,900.00, will be funded under GAAB 2024.
The series of construction projects are intended to provide better educational facilities for the community, further supporting the region’s commitment to quality education for all.
These new infrastructures further aim to enhance the quality of education in the region by ensuring that no Bangsamoro learner is left behind in the pursuit of education.
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. (✓)