COTABATO CITY – Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) turned over on Saturday, Sept. 10, a processing equipment and production area worth Php700,000.00 to Sitangkai Indigenous Badjao Fishermen and Entrepreneur Marketing Cooperative (SIBFEMC) in Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi.
MOST Deputy Minister Dan Salah Asnawi and Mayor Tiblan Ahaja graced the activity, which aimed to enhance the cooperative’s production and improve livelihood of its members.
The SIBFEMC was engaged in seaweed chip-making. The Ministry ensured that technology, commercialization, and interventions will be provided to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to assist them in their livelihood and gradually uplift their lives.
“Ito ang kauna-unahang pagkakataon na makareceive kami ng tulong o suporta mula sa Bangsamoro Government at Ministry of Science and Technology,” SIBFEM President Hadji Ismael Haibatun said.
The cooperative’s officers and members will also be having training and actual demonstration on the processing equipment in the last week of September.
Dubbed as “Venice of the South”, Sitangkai’s major products are seaweeds apart from dried and fresh fish. (Majid Nur/BIO)
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Ais Abas – Sambolawan
BARMM surpasses 1 million target enrollees for S.Y. 2022-2023 as F2F classes resumes
COTABATO CITY – The Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) exceeded its target number of enrollees for School Year (S.Y.) 2022-2023 as face-to-face classes in Bangsamoro region resumes.
The education ministry initially targeted to achieve about one million enrollees across BARMM for the current academic year.
As of writing, the MBHTE recorded a total of 1,038,662 number of enrollees [and still counting] for both in public and private schools under the basic and higher education sectors.
“We already surpassed that number (one million). We registered 500,601 males and 538,061 female learners,” MBHTE Deputy Minister Haron Meling shared.
The Deputy Minister also mentioned that their ministry is doing their “best effort” to encourage parents to send their children to school to attend in-person classes despite of challenges brought on by Covid-19.
“Napakalaki po ng naitulong ng ating mga teachers. As a matter of fact, ang dami nilang ginagawa at makikita ‘yong eagerness nila para ma-encourage ang mga parents to send back their children in school,” Meling said.
Accordingly, challenges in the new normal caused the Bangsamoro teachers to regularly conduct house-to-house visitation to encourage students, spend time learning more, and develop relationships to support children’s success. They also continue to take steps to encourage their citizens to register and enroll their children.
“Sa katunayan, hindi pa rin naaalis ang pangamba ng mga parents sa pandemya, particularly in urban learning centers, which is hindi dapat dahil unti-unti ay pabalik na tayo sa normal. Although it takes time to recover from pandemic dahil na-build na ang pangamba ng guardians,” he added.
Further, the MBHTE also continues to provide school materials and will be implementing a school feeding program for 166 thousand malnourished learners, in collaboration with concerned partners and other stakeholders.
“We have already distributed more than 100 thousand armchairs in different schools throughout the region, alam nating kulang pa ‘yan kaya itong projects ay tuluy-tuloy pa rin. Pinuri naman ito ng Department of Education (DepEd),” said Meling. (Johaira Sahidala/BIO)
