Bangsamoro provinces need 900 new teachers

BARMM Education Mohagher Iqbal (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines —As the resumption of in-person classes in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) nears, Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal said the region would need the services of at least 900 new teachers.

“We are urgently hiring. This is urgent because classes are to open in August,” Iqbal said, adding that the region was seeking those who had passed the licensure exam for teachers.

Two school divisions in Maguindanao province are in need of 400 teachers while Sulu province needs 500, for elementary and high school students.

Special education fund

Other school divisions in the region also need new teachers, but the demand was not as high compared to the two provinces, Iqbal said. He noted that many volunteer teachers had cut off their services this school year after the local government school boards stopped providing them with allowances.

Every local government has a special education fund, which comes from a portion of the real property taxes collected every year.

Iqbal said that ahead of the opening of the new school term, the education ministry already addressed the lack of armchairs and classrooms as more school buildings and facilities have been built across the region.

The BARMM eyes 600,000 new enrollees this school year for basic education, with the total student population expected to reach 2 million.

The BARMM, composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, has a population of over 4.4 million based on the 2020 census.

‘Brigada Eskwela’

On Monday, the education ministry will kick off the weeklong “Brigada Eskwela” to prepare all public schools for the long-awaited resumption of in-person classes.

Iqbal assured students and parents that basic health protocols would be a priority for the safety of everyone in school, saying the regional government was closely working with the Ministry of Health.

—EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ

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