Due to poverty
Poverty has forced one in five households in Sta. Catalina to skip meals in the past 23 months.
This is one of the facts gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority from a recent survey.
Of the eight local government units that were surveyed, the town of Bindoy registered the second highest number of families who skipped meals with 16.18 percent, while Amlan logged the lowest number of households that missed a meal at only 6.53 percent.
Department of Education-Negros Oriental Schools Division Supt. Neri Ojastro welcomed the results of a monitoring survey to improve learning conditions in public elementary schools.
“As a guiding instrument, the data generated in the CBMS [community-based monitoring system] would help our school programs centered on health, internet connectivity, education, nutrition, child protection or child labor among others,” said Ojastro.
PSA recently turned over the 2022 CBMS survey results to the LGUs of Amlan, Ayungon, Bindoy, Bayawan City, Canlaon City, Guihulngan City, San Jose, and Sta. Catalina during a Provincial Statistics Committee meeting in the city.
They are the pilot LGUs that allocated a budget for the CBMS survey, and were able to complete their data collection.
Ojastro said the CBMS data will help them especially in determining the current nutritional status of school children in the communities.
“This is what we need as we are also implementing the school-based feeding program. We need the data on the current nutritional status of children in the community, and how many children who are not in school, undernourished, so they can enjoy the program if the parents allow the children to go to school,” he said.
PSA chief statistical specialist Ariel Fortuito said the CBMS will help decision makers in the LGUs address the concerns in their areas that need appropriate intterventions and prioritization, such as access to electricity of households, internet connections, food insecurity, schooling status of the school-aged population, safety and security, water, sanitation, hygiene, among others.
The 2022 CBMS covers the data collection in 2021.
Using the data, local officials can craft comprehensive plans that will better address nutrition and food security concerns and promote sustainable agriculture in their area, said Fortuito.
The PSA official said the survey also identifies vulnerable members of the community, which can be used for evidence-based planning and budgeting in the LGUs.
Fortuito said the CBMS will help decision makers in the LGUs address the concerns in their areas that need appropriate interventions and prioritization, such as access to electricity of households, internet connections, food security, schooling status of the school-aged population, safety and security, water, sanitation, hygiene, among others.
The PSA official said the survey also identifies vulnerable members of the community, which can be used for evidence-based planning and budgeting in the LGUs.
DepEd is helping in the government’s anti-child labor campaign by using the statistics to identify children who are working and not going to school.
The 2022 CBMS contains data on the number of high school children who stopped going to school or dropped out from school.
“We can improve our campaign to bring students back to school, because you know if the child is exhausted or tired, their learning can be affected, said Ojastro.
DepEd also plans to tap the LGUs and other government agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, so they can include parents and stakeholders in their educational programs.
It entails a census of households undertaken by the LGU with the participation of the community using accelerated poverty profiling systems in the data. (JCT/PIA7 NegOr)
