CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government will appropriate P4 million as its counterpart to the Nutrition Center of the Philippines for the establishment of bakeries in 10 public elementary schools in the city’s south district so the students could buy nutritious bread in cheaper price.
Education consultant Joy Augustus Young said that the bakeries will be established in the elementary schools of barangays Basak-San Nicolas, Guadalupe, Inayawan, Mambaling, San Nicolas, Bulacao, Labangon, Tisa II, Babag and in Bonbon.
The City Council has already approved the resolution of Councilor Edu Rama authorizing Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sign on behalf of Cebu City, with the officials of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines for the implementation of the Nutripan sa Eskwelahan project.
The overall cost of the project is P5,176,080 but the city will only shoulder the P4,044,680 while the rest is to be shouldered by the Nutrition Center of the Philippines whose officials are very much concerned on the plight of malnourished children in the city.
About 25,700 schoolchildren from the 10 selected public schools where the project will be implemented and another 2,000 preschoolers from the 80 barangays will be benefited by the project, said former city mayor Florentino Solon, the president of the NCP.
Although Solon failed to give figures, he said there are still several malnourished children in the city who are enrolled in the public elementary schools.
He said that the recent study showed that 34 in every 100 preschool children are anemic because of the lack in intake of meat food products, probably because their parents cannot afford to always buy them quality food items.
Solon said that a 1997 study by the NCP, in cooperation with John Hopkins University, showed that after eating Vitamin A-fortified pandesal everyday for six months, the anemic children were found to have slowly “regained their normal condition.” — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV (FREEMAN NEWS)