Cotabato City Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi (left) in a meeting with officials of the Aviation Technical School of Cotabato on Tuesday. (Photo by City Information Office)
COTABATO CITY -- The mayor here regarded the entry of an aviation school as an indication of the city’s growth.
Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi met on Tuesday with executives of Aviation Technical School of Cotabato (ATSC) and regarded such development as proof of local economic growth.
The ATSC is the first and only aviation school in Central Mindanao that includes this city, the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Guiani-Sayadi was very upbeat upon learning about the progress of aviation school, which has produced graduates now working in airline companies in the country.
She said she was thrilled to learn about ATSC operations and how it can produce world class graduates in the coming years.
Apart from being an aviation school, the ATSC also provides technical courses such as Associate in Aircraft Maintenance Technology and Associate in Aviation Electronics Technology.
The school started its operation in 2013 and has grown to have good association with the airline industry and airports around the country.
“The ATSC is already TESDA Accredited and is planning to offer more courses this year, including Cabin Crew Training,” Guiani-Sayadi said.
During Tuesday’s meeting between the city mayor, the president of ATSC Michael Mustapha and a Malaysian investor who is one of the school's directors, Guiani-Sayadi has committed to provide scholarship to future deserving students of the ATSC and to become partners in promoting the aviation industry, not only in Cotabato City, but in its neighboring provinces as well.
With the anticipated construction of a Technical Training School, to be donated by a group of Chinese investors to Cotabato City, the local government and the ATSC will also be forging a partnership in managing the aviation institution.
"I am excited on the future of the school. It is both an honor and an opportunity for Cotabato City to have ATSC,” she said. “And the city government is ready to extend its helping arms especially to institutions that will help us shape the future of our next generation."
With the growing demand in aviation professionals all around the world, it is highly possible that more and more Cotabateños and other young ones will be interested in taking aviation courses. Accordingly, aircraft mechanics are the third highest paid in the world in the field of aviation, trailing behind pilots and air traffic controllers.
Mustapha said being an aviation professional himself, he has already seen and experienced the vast opportunities that await future aviation professionals and Cotabateños have a high potential of making it in the global arena.
"It has been a gruelling journey for me as I started to build up a name for the school. But I know that all the hardships will be worth it because I believe in the potentials of young Cotabateños," Mustapha said.
The school offers aviation courses at a much cheaper cost as compared to other aviation schools in the country.
Meanwhile, Consul officials from Malaysia were also present during the meeting and were impressed as the lady chief executive shared about the current situation of Cotabato City where investments are high and the peace and order situation has remarkably improved.
With this, they also expressed their willingness to solicit from a Malaysian education investment entity support to ATSC.
“This confidence that foreign investors have is proof of Cotabato City's dynamic growth and the security that its local government provides for its people,” Guiani-Sayadi said.
Cotabato City is not part of ARMM but it hosts the regional center and most of the ARMM’s regional offices. (PNA)
