GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – The Japanese government has granted the amount of some P24 million to help the national government propagate peace and development in Pikit, North Cotabato.

A statement from the Japanese Embassy said that Ambassador Toshinao Urabe and Yukiyo Nomura, country director of Intercommunication Center for Asia and Nippin (ICAN) Philippines, signed the grant contract for “Peace Building Project through Education in Conflict Affected Areas in Pikit, Mindanao Phase I.”

The project, according to the statement, is in the amount of $561,795 and is being funded through the Grant Assistance for Japanese Non-Government Organization (NGO) Projects, a small-grant funding program of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The amount will be used in constructing a six-classroom building and the repair of a two-classroom building at the Sultan Kudarat Memorial High School.

Armchairs, teacher’s desks and tables, and blackboards, will also be provided under the grant.

The construction of a new school building is aimed at addressing the growing number of students and to provide the students with an improved learning environment.

ICAN Philippines, on the other hand, will conduct the “School of Peace Training” for the students and teachers.

The number of students per classroom in the school is over 60, so they need to endure the congestion, the Japanese Embassy statement said.

It was gathered that there are only five classrooms at the Sultan Kudarat Memorial High School with more than 300 students.

“Pikit witnessed armed conflicts several times in the past, and the residents were forced to evacuate and return repeatedly. Since the security condition is relatively stable these days, more and more children want to go back to school,” the Japanese Embassy statement reads.

Japan is a member of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the International Contact Group.

The project for Pikit came as the peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front met anew in Kuala Lumpur recently.