JOLO, Sulu — A total of 200 grantees of the 5th cohort of Access to Higher and Modern Education Scholarship Program (AHME-SP) gathered at the Hadji Butuh School of Arts and Trade on Saturday, September 7, for the official signing of their scholarship contracts and oath-taking ceremony.
AHME-SP is a scholarship program of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE) through its Higher Education Directorate which provides a financial benefit to each student beneficiary amounting to Php60,000.00 per Academic Year or Php30,000.00 per semester.
It was created to respond to the pressing post-conflict social and economic challenges in the Bangsamoro such as, but not limited to, poverty, education, and job opportunities.
AHME-SP Coordinator Jonathan O. Omar, during his remarks, extended a warm congratulations to all the grantees, emphasizing that the BARMM is responsive in providing the support they need in furthering their higher education and it recognizes their potentials in achieving their future careers.
“This scholarship of the Bangsamoro Government through MBHTE is more than just a financial support, it is an investment in your future and recognition of your potentials,” said Omar.
Moreover, Kerwin C. Asid, the MBHTE-Sulu provincial director, urged the grantees to make the most of their opportunity and to embrace the challenges ahead.
“Therefore, let’s not waste this opportunity, In shaa Allaah, after 4 or 5 years, we will achieve our goal that in every family, there is already a professional,” said Diretor Asid.
AJ Halil, one of the AHME-SP grantees and a first-year accountancy student, expressed his gratitude to the Bangsamoro Government for providing them financial aid that will allow them to further their collegiate studies and achieve their dreams.
“I stand before you today with a heart filled with joy and gratitude as I express my deepest appreciation for the honor of receiving this scholarship. I want to extend my sincerest thanks to the honorable Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, Al-hajj, the chief minister of the Bangsamoro Government; his generosity and vision have made this opportunity possible,” Halil said.
In addition to the event in Sulu, some other 1,200 AHME-SP grantees also took part in the mass signing of AHME scholarship contract and oath taking ceremony in other areas of the BARMM including cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Special Geographic Area.
With MBHTE’s two popular taglines, “No Bangsamoro Learner Left Behind” and “Producing One Professional Per Bangsamoro Family,” AHME-SP aligns to the second agendum of MBHTE, that is, “1 million learners enrolled in Bangsamoro” and to the ninth agendum of the BARMM Enhanced 12-Point Priority Agenda, that is access to quality and holistic education. (Alline Jamar M. Undikan/BIO)
