New ARMM teachers challenged to do best

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman has challenged  thousands of newly hired public school teachers to do their best to educate the constituents in the region.

Hataman on Thursday has sworn in close to 500 newly appointed teachers for the areas of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi during a mass oath taking in a private convention hall here.

“Just like in the regional government our main goal is to bring the services that will be felt by the people and  for them to see what a government really is. So for these newly hired teachers their main goal and result is to have educated constituents and this should start in primary, school” Hataman said on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Hataman, ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia and ARMM Department of Education Sec. Jamar Kulayan led the distribution of the appointment certificates to 389 teachers.

More than 900 new teachers assigned to different schools in ARMM’s mainland provinces in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and Marawi City had earlier taken their oath en masse at the region’s seat of government in Cotabato City.

Kulayan said they will deploy additional 1,353 teachers across the Muslim region in this coming school year to ensure the increasing literacy and competency in ARMM’s region which were previously described to be lagging based on the national statistics survey.

Kulayan said the newly teachers will now join the  over 23,000 s teachers in the ARMM.

Hataman also urged the teachers to wholeheartedly commit to their duties as educators and set aside any feelings of debt of gratitude to any official as a result of their appointment as teachers.

“Wala kayong dapat isipin na utang na loob sa kahit kaninuman dahil dumaan kayo sa proseso,” Hataman told the teachers.

Hataman warned that teachers who will not perform their duties  will be removed from the service following due process.

“If they will not report [for work],  we will remove them,” he said.

He also challenged the Parents-Teachers, Community Association (PTCA) and the barangay officials to reports to them those teachers who are not reporting, saying that he will not hesitate to withhold the salaries of the erring teachers.

According to Hataman, the implementation of a good education in the ARMM is just part of a smooth transition for the Bangsamoro Region.

“The point here is all of our initiatives are consolidated and are part of our preparation for the new transition. We want to stress  to have a smooth transition and whatever happens in the coming days or future we will not be told we were not ready,” Hataman added. - Roel Pareño