COTABATO CITY—The Ministry of Science and Technology in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MOST-BARMM) said it will earmark P55 million in parliamentary appropriation in 2024 for the development of a Bangsamoro Science High School.
MOST Minister Aida Silongan said on Wednesday that the initial development budget has been approved at the level of the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA) Parliament’s Committees on Finance and Budget, and of Science and Technology.
Silongan said the approval followed the BTA Parliament’s Science and Technology committee’s consultative meeting with experts in Manila on how to develop a science high school for the region’s potential science learners.
The proposed funding provision has been approved by the Parliament’s Finance Committee under Minister Eduard Uy Guerra, and the Committee on Science and Technology, chaired by Member of the Parliament Suharto Esmael.
At the Manila public hearing, essential concerns were raised and discussed, including drafting of science high school curriculum, structural (building) component, laboratory facilities and equipment, identifying a “suitable location,” faculty development, scholarship programs for students, and collaboration between the Department of Science and Technology and MOST.
Experience educators in the Bangsamoro region, including Cotabato City and Marawi City, have noted that the most challenging part in establishing a specialized college department or institution is the faculty development, particularly, on having to gather people with “utmost determination and institutional commitment” to advancement in specific fields of discipline in natural science for young learners.
It was not clear, however, as to whether MOST might consider starting a separate “development nucleus” for a science high school, or to develop it alongside existing Bangsamoro learning institutions.
The latter option may provide easier way through development of teaching staff via a faculty outreach development program in areas close in terms of geographic proximity to any proposed site of proposed science high school in BARMM, according to another educator-observer.
The discussions with the Manila experts were apparently silent about a “closer-to-home” institutional partnership for staff and faculty development.
BARMM’s prospect of partnership should have equal or greater emphasis with Mindanao-base institutions having the competitive capability like Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology, (MSU-IIT), and the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) which has produced dozens of scientists.
The Bangsamoro Parliament’s Committee on Science and Technology recently convened a public hearing on at Seda Hotel, Vertis North, to present and discuss Bill No. 37 that aims to establish a Bangsamoro Science High School (BSHS) in the BARMM Region.
During the public hearing, different concerns, mainly a collaboration between the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and MOST were discussed on such concerns as drafting of curriculum, the “structural composition of the building, the provision of proper facilities and equipment for laboratories, the identification of a suitable location, the hiring and capacity-building of directors and teachers, provision of financial assistance for the students,” according to a press statement issued by the MOST.