Dimaporo: Lanao del Norte ambush highlights failure of basic education
At A Glance
- The Lanao del Norte ambush on soldiers last month by members of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute group underscores a failure in basic education, according to Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo.
Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)
The Lanao del Norte ambush on soldiers last month by members of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute group underscores a failure in basic education, according to Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo.
“This is the failure of basic education, and I hope nobody will take offense to this. It's an old historical culture or mindset that the Philippines is a Catholic country, therefore Catholic education,” said Dimaporo in a press conference on Wednesday, March 13.
“So, the very traditional mindset of Muslim Filipinos in the far-out areas might feel that they don't trust bringing their kids to DepEd (Department of Education) schools,” he added.
Dimaporo, who is the chairperson of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs, noted that the perpetrators were as young as 15 years old and cannot speak Filipino. They can only speak Maranao.
Six soldiers died during the ambush.
With this supposed failure of basic education, the lawmaker believes that amendments to the “restrictive” economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution are justified.
The Charter change (Cha-cha) measure of the House of Representatives—Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7—eyes the relaxing of foreign ownership in certain industries.
Citing the education sector, Dimaporo said RBH No. 7 will allow foreign madrasas to invest in the Bangsamoro region.
“It's an investment for ourselves, for our religion, to come into the Philippines and help establish proper Madaris system so that our children in Muslim areas can read and write Arabic and not be thrown into areas where they will end up being recruited by terrorist organizations,” the Lanao del Norte solon noted.
A madrasa is an educational institution offering instruction in Islamic subjects, particularly the Quran and Sharia or the Islamic law.