By Ali G. Macabalang Cotabato City – Two hundred (200) new teachers have been hired and ordered for deployment in public elementary and secondary schools in Sulu, according to the Bureau of Public Information of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BPI-ARMM). ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman signed the appointment papers and deployment orders of at least 200 public school teachers in Sulu at a gathering in Jolo town on Thursday, the BPI said. Interviewed by phone Friday, a source from the BPI confirmed that Gov. Hataman has designated his chief of staff, Atty. Rasol Mitmug Jr., as caretaker of the ARMM’s Department of Education following the reported resignation of Regional DepEd Secretary John Magno. The governor issued on December 28 the concurrent designation of Mitmug as “temporary caretaker” to ensure the smooth operations of the regional education department. At Thursday’s gathering in Jolo town, Hataman was quoted as challenging the newly hired Sulu teachers to help build “better Moro youth” in the autonomous region. ARMM, which covers, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Basilan provinces and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, has been deemed by security authorities as a breeding ground for recruitment of young residents by Daesh-inspired militants espousing radicalism for Islamic State caliphate. Hataman had earlier ordered the DepEd-ARMM to strengthen efforts in integrating madaris (Arabic schools) system into the mainstream education curricula to thwart militants’ incursion. Earlier, military and police intelligence reports indicated the madaris system was a main source of recruitment into the radical caliphate ideological campaign.