CAGAYAN de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez filed a measure that will provide government assistance to Madrasah Education System.

House Bill 6644 or the proposed Fund Assistance to Madrasah Education Act also seeks to improve the state of madrasah system or Islamic schools in the country.

Under the bill, the Department of Education, in close coordination with the Commission on Higher Education, Office of Muslim Affairs and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, will provide mechanisms to improve the quality of Madrasah education as well as open the opportunity for more Muslim students to benefit from said educational system.

The measure also aims to provide financial assistance for Madrasah infrastructure development; programs and assistance to students and teachers; nutrition and feeding program for young children; classroom facilities; textbook assistance fund; in-service training for teachers and scholarship grants to children of teachers.

Rodriguez cited the International Religious Freedom Report released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the United States stating that there are 1,140 madrasahs seeking financial assistance from local and foreign donors.

There are at least 1,569 Islamic schools across the Philippines, of which 53 percent are in the ARMM.