‘Hire more Madaris teachers in ARMM’

MARAWI CITY — The 1,300-member Ulama League of the Philippines, whose members were mostly trained in Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, urged President Arroyo the other day to create 2,000 more teaching positions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to accommodate qualified Islamic theologians for Madaris classes.

The request was contained in a two-page resolution passed during the three-day congress and submitted to President Arroyo during the closing ceremony here the other day.

The league said more preachers are needed in the ARMM’s Madaris Education Bureau, which handles peace education subjects for Muslim pupils in the region’s public schools.

During the congress, the Muslim preachers extensively discussed the problems besetting the Madaris educational system and their role in complementing Malacañang’s peace initiatives in Mindanao. — John Unson