COTABATO CITY – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo has noted that the region has a low literacy rate.

As this developed, Sinarimbo vowed to help the people here by seeking aid from donor communities. Sinarimbo said proper measures are now being undertaken with the help of foreign relief and assistance agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP).

“The ARMM has low participation and literacy rate. Because of this, we end up practically illiterate,” Sinarimbo told newsmen here during a press briefing.

Sinarimbo claimed that the region once ranked second in terms of literacy rate in the country but slid to the bottom spot following the series of man-made calamities that have beset the region in recent years.

“The intermittent clashes between government and Moro rebel forces led to the massive displacement of thousands in the ARMM region that included children currently living in makeshift tents at evacuation centers,” he said.

The WFP, meanwhile, pledged to address the predicament through its “Food for Education” program and the new European Union-funded “Food for Assets” scheme.

Both programs aim to alleviate the living condition of some 22,000 individuals currently housed at evacuation centers in Maguindanao alone.

For his part, WFP Deputy Country Director Asaka Nyangara mentioned that a mother-child health nutrition program aims to address to problems of pregnant women and children from six to 23 months in the evacuation areas.

“Another is the strengthening of the educational standards in the area. It also seeks to support the government efforts to address the education problem in the ARMM,” he said.