Patrons urged to observe school feeding procedure

CEBU, Philippines - Interested sponsors of school feeding programs are encouraged to directly coordinate with any of the following agencies: Health and Nutrition Center for feeding programs covering two or more regions; Regional Health and Nutrition Unit for those programs covering only one region; or Division Health and Nutrition Section for those programs covering a province, city, or municipality.

Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro noted that interested parties must undergo orientation on the "Guidelines for the Implementation of School Feeding Programs."

School Feeding Programs (SFPs) are being implemented mainly to improve nutritional status, improve school attendance, and reduce dropouts among schoolchildren. SFPs are also one of the thrusts of public-private partnerships as many private companies see the SFPs are effective in providing utmost intervention to schoolchildren in need.

Further, sponsors are to get familiar with "feeding proper." The feeding activity is expected to be done daily for 100 to 120 days within the school premises and should start not later than September of each school year.

In cases when beneficiaries do not gain weight or continue to be severely undernourished during the first three months, they are to be referred to the health personnel for further assessment.

Complementary activities for effectiveness and sustainability of this program include deworming, food production like growing a vegetable garden in school, waste segregation and composting, and enforcing good grooming and personal hygiene among children.

According to Luistro, "Updating of the Nutritional Status of Filipino Children and Other Population Groups" shows that 32.0 percent of 5-10 years old children are underweight, 33.6 percent of them have stunted growth, and 8.5 percent were wasted. In the DepEd Nutritional Assessment Report for SY: 2012-2013, 14.24 percent or approximately two million schoolchildren were wasted or thin. The target beneficiaries for any SFP are the undernourished Kindergarten (below six years old) and elementary pupils and secondary students (6-19 years old)."

He instructed all school heads to submit a Program Terminal Report (PTR) to their respective division offices. The DOs are to submit a consolidated SFPs Report per sponsor to the DepEd Central Office through the regional offices.

PTRs are to reflect program accomplishments, nutritional status, percentage attendance, issues encountered and actions taken; good practices or lessons learned, personnel involved, and pictorials.

Regional offices are expected to submit the report on SFPs by March of every school year. (MEEV)(FREEMAN)