JOLO, Sulu – To comprehensively assess the educational landscape in the province of Sulu, the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) monitoring and evaluation team carried out a school-to-school visitation on October 16-20.
The team evaluated teachers’ lesson plans, delivery methods, the quality of teaching materials, and teacher-learner engagement to determine the level of learners’ involvement in the learning process.
To gauge the overall performance of Sulu Schools Division for academic year 2022-2023, the team scrutinized the division’s accomplishment report. The report was examined by MBHTE’s Monitoring and Evaluation of Basic Education Directorate, headed by Camilo Bangcola.
During reporting, several issues were discussed including student retention and dropouts. The challenges associated with livelihoods and students transferring to other divisions were identified as primary factors underpinning the issues.
“Tiningnan natin ang mga indicator, hindi naman problema and access [sa pag-aaral]…’Yun nga lang di natin nai-ensure na ang bata ay namamalagi sa paaralan dahil sa maraming reason kagaya ng kabuhayan at peace and order reason pa rin dahil sa mga family feud na nag-e-exist,” Bangcola emphasized during interview.
[We evaluated the indicators and found that access to education is not the problem. However, we cannot guarantee that the children will stay in school due to various reasons, such as livelihood and peace and order issues, particularly caused by family feuds that still exist.]
On the other hand, MBHTE-Sulu Division Superintendent Kiram Irilis pointed out the scarcity of teachers in island municipalities as a significant issue since a large portion of the teaching workforce prefers to work in the mainland, leaving the island communities underserved.
He said that “it is much better if they [supervisors] concentrate on improving the quality of learning in the community given the current challenges Sulu province is facing,” particularly with the lack of teaching force.
The visiting team also conducted an in-depth analysis of various critical components such as policy implementation, finance, planning, and research among others.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, BARMM endeavors to establish a student-centered educational system that emphasizes the holistic development of learners, supported by a competent pool of teachers and a flexible and relevant curriculum while maintaining strong community participation and collaboration.
Through the visit to Sulu, it is hoped that the commitment of providing quality education to the youth will be strengthened, and no Bangsamoro child will be left behind, thereby promoting equal opportunity in education for all the youth in the region. (Alline Jamar M. Undikan/BIO)
