More than PhP70 million had been earmarked by the education department to sustain the implementation of the agency’s school-based feeding program in various public elementary schools in the different parts of the Cordillera for the schoolyear 2024-2025.
Dr. Estela L. Carin֮o, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Education, said that for the present school year, some 11,377 learners from the different schools have been identified as recipients of the agency’s school-based program to improve their nutritional status and allow them to cope with the present learning modalities and enhance their school performance.
The agency’s school-based feeding program was designed to address malnutrition among schoolchildren, especially from the remote areas in the region.
Further, the primary goal of the school-based feeding program is to significantly improve the nutritional status of undernourished children, enhance their learning capacity, and encourage school attendance.
In 2022, there were some 40,857 learner beneficiaries of this program from the different parts of the region before it drastically declined to only 10,834 beneficiaries last year.
She assured the continuous implementation of the school-based feeding program in identified target beneficiaries from the various schools with malnourished or undernourished children
According to her, there has been a significant improvement in the learning attitude of learners who benefitted from the previous implementation of the school-based feeding program that paved the way for the agency to sustain its implementation to ensure that malnourished and undernourished children can cope with the learning conditions in their respective schools.
The Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 includes the school-based feeding program in the implementation of its strategy framework to improve education and life-long learning among the youth.
Moreover, the implementation of the school-based feeding program is aligned with the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain Para Sa Batang Pilipino.
Aside from the provision of nutritious food to the malnourished or undernourished children, part of the school-based feeding program is the distribution of fortified rice to the beneficiaries every Friday for their families to cook during weekends to allow them to avail of the benefits of fortification.
The fortification of the rice is being done in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) while the rice is procured from the National Food Authority (NFA). By Dexter A. See
