New Coordinating Body Launched to Address Bangsamoro Education Challenges

MANILA, Philippines – A new coordinating body, the Bangsamoro Education Coordination Forum (BECF), has been established to address persistent challenges within the education sector of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The memorandum of agreement, signed on Tuesday, July 28, formalizes a deal between the Bangsamoro government and various national government agencies, including the Bangsamoro's Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education, the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Professional Regulation Commission. "For too long, coordination between our agencies depended on goodwill. Today, we transform this mutual goodwill into a binding commitment," said Abdulraof Macacua, interim chief minister and concurrent education minister of BARMM. "We are building a permanent platform where we set shared priorities, make collective decisions, share responsibility, and answer to each other and our people for their outcomes." The establishment of BECF comes as a response to the disconnect between the target policies and programs of the national and BARMM governments for the region's education system, which has been plagued by unresolved questions on funding channels, eligibility, and agency jurisdiction. It was formed months after the creation of a technical working group for education within the Philippine Congress-Bangsamoro Parliament Forum in March. The coordinating body will face various challenges impacting the Bangsamoro education system, including early child development and nutrition issues. In 2025, the BARMM posted a stunting rate of 36%, the highest in the country, according to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). The FNRI said stunted children have low height-for-age, which is the result of chronic undernutrition. The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said such realities affect children’s education. It found nearly nine in 10 Bangsamoro children aged three to four are not enrolled in preschool. It also said that by Grade 4, students were lagging three to four years behind expectations in literacy and up to three years behind in mathematics. Macacua also noted that in 2022, 90% of students dropped out of college before completing their degrees. He also said many of the teachers’ education institutions in BARMM were low-performing in licensure exams, affecting teacher quality in the region. In 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority found that only around six in 10 Bangsamoro residents aged 10 to 64 years old were functionally literate or can “read, write, compute, and comprehend.” Through the new body, the member agencies will identify education priorities, align policies and programs, and establish shared, measurable targets based on the National Education and Workforce Development Plan for 2026 to 2035. The BECF is expected to convene in August to identify its priority programs and set key education targets for 2027, according to EDCOM 2. In his speech, Macacua said strengthening early childhood development and nutrition, as well as issues surrounding program recognition, accreditation pathways, and licensure eligibility in higher education institutions are among the pressing matters for the region. Aside from pushing for a coordinating mechanism, EDCOM 2 earlier recommended that the Bangsamoro government enact a Bangsamoro Teacher Education and Development Reform Code to map out lacking specializations, invest in faculty development, and establish centers of excellence. The commission also suggested the drafting of a 10-year legislated roadmap for the implementation of Republic Act No. 12199 or the Early Childhood Care and Development System Act to aggressively recruit child development workers and build centers in the nearly 700 barangays currently without them. – Rappler.com