COTABATO CITY – Public school teachers and administrators in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) hailed the recent appointment of retired Region 10 office of the Department of Education (DepEd 10) Director Makil U. Pundaodaya as new regional secretary of education.

Pundaodaya was named as the new regional education chief of Muslim Mindanao by acting ARMM Gov. Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong together with 10 other new members of the ARMM cabinet “as part of a team tasked to help him straighten out and improve the delivery of basic services in the impoverished region.

Basilan schools division superintendent Jarasiya Francisco said Pundaodaya’s long experience as field executive of the DepEd where he rose from the ranks will swerve him in good stead as regional secretary of the ARMM public school system.

A similar observation was made by Lanao del Sur II schools superintendent Hadja Zenaida P. Ampatua who believed that Pundaodaya, owing to his laudable achievement as field school executive in the Southern Philippines for over two decades, “can initiate necessary educational programs and projects designed to improve the delivery of basic education in Muslim Mindanao.”

Ampatua, a veteran female field education official, sadly noted that for the past several years, public elementary and secondary school children in the region have been poorly performing in the national achievement test (NAT) annually administered by the National Educational Testing and Research Center (NETRC).