In his stead, Secretary Datu Abulkhayr Alonto of the Mindanao Development Age a resident of Marawi City, will be the graduation speaker.
MSU main campus has a student population of 17,000 and a teacher population of at least 1,000, Macaayong said.
This year’s graduates number 2,200 but Macaayong said only about 1,200 have confirmed attendance in the graduation rites.
The entire MSU system– composed of the main campus, MSU-IIT in Iligan, MSU-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography in Bongao, Tawi-tawi; in Naawan, Misamis Oriental, General Santos City, Dinaig in Maguindanao, and Buug in Zamboanga Sibugay and its three satellite campuses in Lanao del Norte had 78,000 students as of schoolyear 2016 – 2017.
Back to school in August
Classes for schoolyear 2017-2018 will start on August 7 and enrolment begins on July 31.
Whether or not students will return to campus next month is a big question but Macaayong is confident that the students and teachers will come back.
“Our students have been used to our campus … they cannot find any campus like MSU,” he said, adding the students will return “because MSU has been giving almost all free education to all our students.”
Aside from free tuition, students also get book allowance, dorm accommodation, and a full scholar gets a stipend of P1,500 a month.
He said a committee has been created to contact the students to return to campus this semester.
“We have to convince our students we are in a normal situation. See, walang nasunog na bahay, walang nabombahan” (no houses burned, no bombed structures, Macaayong noted.
The owner of a store adjacent to the MSU-Main Campus in Marawi City closes shop and calls it a day on Friday, 7 July 2017. MIndaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
The campus is located some five kilometers from the war zone, according to Macaayong. In one part of the campus, in Barangay Cabingan, residents did not evacuate, in contrast to neighboring areas where only stray dogs could be seen on the streets, houses and stores shut down.
Macaayong has not left the campus since Day 1 of the crisis. Like other government offices in Marawi, office operations were suspended due to the crisis but resumed here two weeks ago, he said.
The state university used to be predominantly Christian but these days it is “50-50,” Macaayong said.
Students come from not only the Lanao provinces but also from, among others, Surigao, Zamboanga, Agusan and Bukidnon.
Not trapped
Macaayong clarified that some 300 students who were reported trapped inside the campus when the Maute Group laid siege on the city on May 23, were not trapped but stranded since transportation services to and from Marawi were stopped.
“Wrong ang term na ginamit. There was no fight, no untoward incident inside the MSU therefore walang na-trap,” he said.
The university linked up with various institutions to get the stranded students and faculty out of Marawi City.||| |||buy cenforce online with |||
It was a good thing it was vacation and only a few students were around, those who were completing requirements, he said.
He said the Maute Group was not able to take over the campus because it was immediately secured by its security force, aided by the Army and a few days later, by the Marines, he said.
