SIXTY-FOUR Standard Madrasah Curriculum (SMC) Implementers under the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE) received Friday, May 7, a sum of P93.15 million financial assistance from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm).

Professor Tahir Nalg, MBHTE’s director-general for madaris education, said representatives of each SMC recipient from the five provinces of Barmm received the checks at Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex, Barmm Government Center in Cotabato City.

“The allocated subsidy for each SMC implementers was calculated based on the number of enrollees of each Madrasah per academic school year,” Malg said.

He also said through MBHTE Minister Mohagher Iqbal, the provision of financial assistance to Madrasahs was made possible and was financed under the contingency fund of Barmm Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim.

Iqbal said the provision of subsidies for Madrasahs in the region is actually a nationally funded program but was halted.

“Actually, programa po ‘yan ng National Government, ngunit natigil po. Kaya naman, dahil kailangan natin ito para sa ating mga Madrasah, ay sinalo po natin [sa MBHTE] at nakipag-ugnayan sa OCM para sa pondong kanyang maibibigay,” Iqbal said.

He further explained that there is no guarantee if there will be a similar provision of subsidy next year. Instead, he assured that MBHTE will do its best to include and realign its priority programs incorporating the SMC.

According to MBHTE data that a total of 18,630 madrasah learners from the 64 SMC Implementers will benefit and receive P5,000 from the subsidy. (SunStar Zamboanga)