Sen. Grace Poe said the inclusion of more children in the school-based feeding program of the Department of Education would spur the country’s battle against malnutrition and undernourishment while ensuring their continuous learning.
Chief Health Program Officer Corazon Dumlao, at the briefing on the DepEd’s proposed budget for 2021, told Poe that the program would have at least three million beneficiaries, including children from indigenous people’s communities and those “at risk.”
“Mahalaga ang wastong pagkain sa mga bata dahil alam naman natin na apektado ang kanilang pag-aaral kung kulang ang pagkain. Hindi sila matututo kung sila ay gutom,” said Poe, main author of Republic Act 11037 or the "Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act."
(It is important that the children eat nutritious food. We know the negative effects of inadequate feeding. They do not learn if they are hungry)
For 2021, the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) will get close to P6-billion budget.
The program’s target beneficiaries will now include all incoming Kindergarten learners and the Grade 1 to 6 pupils who were wasted and severely wasted based on the 2019-2020 SBFP report, except those who have moved to Grade 7.
DepEd said that modifications would be implemented in the distribution of food amid COVID-19 that barred face-to-face learning in schools.
From food rations in schools in the past years, DepEd will instead distribute nutritious food products to be delivered to households or picked up by parents in schools.
Poe said the DepEd should tap the help of the local government units, particularly barangays, in the delivery of the food packs.
Additional transportation subsidy for the distribution of food packs should also be considered, she said.
She also urged the department to seek support from private groups, such as Gawad Kalinga and the Ateneo de Manila University through its Blueplate Learning program which has conducted feeding program in various communities in the past.