Better prospects await 3,453 scholars in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) after completing their Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses during the first quarter of 2021.

“Their completion of the program has opened new doors for them,” Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal told reporters here in an interview Wednesday.

The TVET program is implemented under the region’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education–Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD) scheme.

At least 7,000 scholars are targeted as beneficiaries of the MBHTE-TVET package, including skills training, entrepreneurship training, values transformation training, national assessment, and a training support fund of PHP100 daily per student.

Iqbal said most of the beneficiaries are from the disadvantaged sectors in the region. On the other hand, Iqbal said the other TESD scholarship programs like Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA), Skills Training for Employment Program (STEP), Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP), and Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTEA) remain in place to support the region’s constituents.

Iqbal said the MBHTE is committed to continually deliver skills training in the region through BARMM and nationally funded scholarship programs in the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and the 63 villages in six towns of North Cotabato.

“No Bangsamoro child should be left behind,” Iqbal said, referring to the MBHTE-BARMM’s primary goal of educating constituents in the region. (PNA)