A top education official of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has approved the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Bangsamoro Education Code.
Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal of the BARMM’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) signed the IRR of the Bangsamoro Education Code on Tuesday, August 2. The law has been passed as Bangsamoro Act No. 18.
Iqbal himself wrote and sponsored the law on a general objective that “no child in the Bangsamoro shall be left behind in the pursuit of quality, accessible, inclusive, and liberating education.”
On October 28, 2020 Iqbal delivered his sponsorship speech where he discussed the salient features of the then proposed BEC, even as he thanked the partners of the MBHTE for their assistance in the crafting of the education bill, said Member of Bangsamoro Parliament Rasol Y. Mitmug Jr. Nash B. Maulana
Moby Pandi, chief of Information Division of the MBHTE Minister’s Office, said, “The formulation IRR is mandated by the Bangsamoro Education Code which was enacted by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority on May 18, 2021.”
Pandi said the IRR is the “product of a series of consultations with the different stakeholders of the Bangsamoro Education Community.” The consultation-series culminated into a two-day finalization activity facilitated by the Technical Working Group for the IRR Finalization with the participation of MBHTE officials, particularly the director general, schools division superintendents, administrators of the higher education institutions, Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD) provincial directors, and administrators from August 1 to 2 in Davao City.
Iqbal said the IRR supplements the provisions of the Bangsamoro Education Code, and provides concrete mechanisms for its effective implementation to the end that “no Bangsamoro child shall be left behind in the pursuit of quality, accessible, inclusive, and liberating education.”
He said the IRR should apply to all combinations or activities of persons or entities representing the Bangsamoro Education System including those pertaining to the formal, non-formal and informal, public, and private learning institutions, at all levels such as the basic, higher, technical, and madrasah education.