COTABATO CITY – The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MOST-BARMM) has granted P40,000 worth of scholarship to 126 students across the region.
Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, MOST Minister Aida Silongan, and Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal on Thursday, Jan. 7, led the oath-taking of the first batch of scholars consisting of 73 students from the province of Maguindanao, Cotabato City and the 63-barangay Special Geographic Area in North Cotabato.
Another ceremony will be conducted for the 53 scholars in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
Each grantee is entitled to an P8,000 allowance per month for the first semester of Academic Year 2020-2021.
”Our mission of launching this program is to promote science education and encourage the number of students who will enroll in science courses, generate a pool of science enthusiasts who will later become researchers in their respective fields of interest, and create more science professionals, researchers, inventors and innovators that will join the Bangsamoro workforce to help spin the wheel of economic development through science, technology, and innovations,” Silongan said during the ceremony held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in this city.
Ebrahim encouraged the grantees “to make full use of this opportunity, to live, love, and dream together; to serve a post-pandemic society, to make lives better for your loved ones, and for the entire Bangsamoro.”
Silongan said the scholarship is under the MOST’s Bangsamoro Assistance for Science and Education (BASE) Program that aims to provide financial assistance to qualified senior high school graduates who intend to pursue productive careers in science and technology, either in private or public schools.
The students underwent a strict selection process before having been granted the scholarship.
The scholars are required, among others, to maintain a passing grade in all academic subjects every semester/term until completion of the course; submit their reports, duly certified, on the indicated period; submit a copy of registration or certificate of enrolment at the start of the semester and report of grades for every academic subject taken at the end of each semester, and maintain good physical condition and moral standing. – Newsline.ph