To our honorable guests, ________________(Mention the names of the personalities that need

to be acknowledged)____________.

For the past decades, Save the Children Philippines has been breaking down the barriers to
education by helping marginalized and vulnerable children – including those who are living in conflict
and disaster zones - access early childhood and primary school services. We aim to improve literacy and
numeracy skills, help teachers to teach and children to learn

When the pandemic was declared in the first quarter of 2020, the school closures in elementary
alone has affected 863,465 learners in the region. The COVID-19 crisis has also reinforced existing
educational and protection needs and endangered the learning process of the most vulnerable children
by greatly increasing the risk of dropping out of school. This has further marginalized and left behind
many vulnerable learners.

The topic of “return to school” this year may augment anxiety to parents, learners, and even to
teachers, school staff, medical practitioners, and legislators. Compelling questions will surely emerge
from our stakeholders. We trust that the ministry’s plans are grounded in science with the overall goal
of the health and well-being of our Bangsamoro learners, school personnel, and the community as a
whole. This “safe return to school” initiative will definitely address the concerns of struggling learners
and teachers due to the COVID19 pandemic. For the first and the longest time, our learners were left
with no other options but to learn through face-to-screen or face-to-printed modules and it’s about time
for them to go back to face-to-face learning; the learning modality that benefits the majority.

Save the Children Philippines, together with our other partners in the community, are one with
MBHTE’s proactive implementation of the safe return of our Bangsamoro learners to their respective
schools. We join hands in advocating their safe return to schools for face-to-face learning. Schools
provide structure, learning opportunities, peer socialization and access to caring adults.

Save the Children Philippines supports the implementation of the limited face-to-face learning
modality in the region because we firmly believe that our Bangsamoro learners are always full of ideas in
different aspects of life. They are here to be future game-changers in education, technology, politics,
agriculture, community development, and social change.

We have confidence in our Bangsamoro learners for they are a great asset to the region and
should be shaped to engage in social transformation and community development. The more we
prepare them for tomorrow, the more we can have stronger, healthier, well-educated, and resilient
members of our community.

We believe that BARMM’s initiative of safely returning the learners to schools is one with Save
the Children’s belief that every child has the right to an education to succeed in life.

Maraming Salamat at mapagpalayang umaga sa ating lahat.