SENATOR Grace Poe is pushing for an additional outlay of P2 billion for next year’s implementation of the school-based feeding program to restore health for malnourished school children.
Poe, who earlier committed she would move for an increase in the feeding program’s budget, said the initiative was important to ensure that 2.5 million wasted and severely wasted students or those with chronic malnutrition would be properly supported next year.
She added there was a huge backlog in food preparation and storage equipment in public schools “which in turn hampers the latter’s mission to provide education and nutrition.”
She cited the need for enough facilities to prepare nutritious food for millions of children under the program.
She said “we need to invest for the future of our youth by suporting their nutrition.”
Poe, who co-sponsored a measure seeking to institutionalize the feeding program, said the additional funding would be used for procurement of equipment necessary for the establishment of new and upgrading of existing school kitchens with adequate storage facilities.
The DepEd allocated P5.3 billion in the proposed 2018 General Appropriations Act for the feeding program.
In this year’s national budget, the DepEd had allotted P3.9 billion to feed 1.8-million students.
The feeding program targets wasted and severely wasted Kinder to Grade 6 pupils nationwide for a total of 120 feeding days.
Poe said various research studies done by local groups and international monitors suggested hunger, malnutrition and stunting—or children who are short of their age—were still prevalent in the Philippines.
“With the feeding program, we will not only feed the minds of our students but also their stomachs,” Poe said.