Emphasizing that health and education are closely related, the Department of Education (DepEd) has partnered with Nestlé Philippines Inc. (NPI) to further promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipino children.
In a virtual Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing ceremony held early last week, Education Secretary Leonor Briones emphasized that health and education are closely related, citing DepEd’s joint programs with the Department of Health (DoH) on child nutrition and health.
“This is because we all know that an unhealthy child cannot learn as much (as) one who is healthy, well-fed, and given nutritionally sufficient assistance, especially for those who cannot afford the expense of maintaining healthy children,” Briones said.
Briones thanked Nestlé Philippines for its “long years of partnership and help.” This partnership has paved way for NPI’s advocacies in education which include the Nestlé Wellness Campus Program; the Milo Home Court Program; and the “Laki sa Tibay” Program which includes the printing and distribution of “Tibay Learning” Modules and DepEd Learning Kits, and the inclusion of product samples in DepEd’s learning packets.
DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio emphasized the importance of the partnership especially in increasing the awareness of students on wellness and nutrition.
“Raising awareness in health and nutrition is very crucial especially as the time of COVID-19, so we hope that the related topics will be more interesting and we hope that we will also be able to overcome the challenges in education that we have now,” San Antonio said.
Education Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs, External Partnerships, and Project Management Service Tonisito Umali underscored the importance of such partnership which is in line with the objectives of the “Sulong EduKalidad” initiative of DepEd.
Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO Kais Marzouki explained that the purpose of such partnership with DepEd is to “unlock the power of good food to enhance the quality of life for everyone today and for the generations to come as the quality of life includes the quality of education.”