MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/13 March) – The request of the Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) for the board of regents of Bukidnon State University to open external schools in Pangantucan and Sinuda towns may have to wait.
Dante Victoria, BSU corporate secretary told MindaNews the Commission on Higher Education has instructed the university to put on hold such request pending the new guidelines.
The SP passed this week the resolutions proposing the creation of the external schools.
Victoria said BSU received a similar resolution from Pangantucan last year. The BSU board tackled it in November 2012 but it has been put on hold indefinitely, he added.
He said the CHED did not say when the guidelines would be out.
BSU is yet to receive a copy of a resolution on the request for an external school in Kitaotao, which is proposed to be built in Barangay Sinuda, he said.
The SP resolution cited Pangantucan’s growing economy, population and number of high school graduates.
It attributed the growing population to the presence of migrant farm workers and their families who work in agricultural plantations.
There is now an urgent need to put up and establish an extension college that is run by the state, so that the incoming freshmen college students need not go and pursue college degrees elsewhere,” SP member Nemesio Beltran Jr. said.
Beltran added that BSU can use the facilities of the Pangantucan National High School and Sinuda National High School after the classes of high school students.
The SP resolution said an extension school in Kitaotao will benefit Lumads in the area, particularly those from the villages of Lorega, Buda and Sinuda.
It said it will mean less expense since the Lumad students will no longer spend on board and lodging, which they could not avoid if they study elsewhere.
Victoria said BSU has a total of 26 schools outside Bukidnon called external studies centers and six extension centers within the province. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)