COTABATO CITY: A total of 42 Bangsamoro Assistance for Science Education (BASE) and BASE-Merit grantees received cash assistance from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) on October 4 at the Bangsamoro Government Center. Of the total, 28 BASE scholars and 14 BASE-Merit recipients from Maguindanao signed an agreement with MoST from the province of Maguindanao to receive their cash allowances. The assistance aimed to stimulate and encourage Bangsamoro youth, especially incoming first-year college students, to pursue lifetime productive careers in science and technology. These programs provide cash assistance to students who passed the qualifying examinations. BASE and BASE-Merit are programs of MoST for science courses with an allowance of P8,000 and P20,000 per month, respectively. Minister Aida Silongan said: 'We ensure that the support to students who took science and technology courses is continuous. The BASE-Merit program is new and will help students who took highly specialized science and technology courses.' Meanwhile, a total of 85 grantees from Cotabato City and Special Geographic Areas signed an agreement with MoST on October 3.