The noon meal program stays for now.
Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Alice Lagarde has clarified that she still has not received the memorandum from DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman reportedly ordering a stop in the implementation of the Food for School program.
Negros Oriental is a pilot province for the Free Noon Meal feeding program in the country.
Lagarde said that the Food for School Program implemented for day care children has showed positive effects.
The Food for School is a program funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), where children are provided with 1 kilo of rice for each school day they are present in classes. The program is part of the effort in combating poverty in the country.
Lagarde said day care children are weighed in the beginning and towards the end of the school year. She said their records show that there is a slight decrease in the number of malnourished day care children after the implementation of the Food for School program.
She noted the one kilo of rice assures the entire family of the food that they will have to share in a meal. The program was also complimented with hot meals and supplemental meals in some local government units in the province.
The provincial government also allocated some amount for the implementation of other supplemental feeding programs that will combat malnutrition in the province.
Among the intervention programs in nutrition is the milk feeding program for school children by Land O’ Lakes Foundation and giving of hot meal to day care children, which is also being supported by some of the local government units.
Recently, Negros Oriental has been identified as having the highest malnutrition rate in Central Visayas because of the lack of sufficient nutrition program among LGUs that have high malnutrition rate. (PNA/Maricar Aranas)
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