The malnutrition rate in Negros Oriental has gone down from 8.8 percent to 6.4 percent since July last year and continues to slide down to 6.1 percent this year.
This was bared by Gov. Roel Degamo on Thursday before awardees of the enhanced version of the Gulayan at Palaisdaan alay sa Kabataan (GPAK) during simple awarding ceremonies in cooperation with the Department of Education.
He emphasized the vital role of Deped and the provincial agriculture office in implementing the program dubbed as Reinforcing the Right Development of Children in Schools & Communities, where children in the communities are included.
He stressed that the program will be implemented in schools not just for the award but to help the nutritional needs of the children.
Degamo said the program is aimed at instilling in the students the value of work and love for the soil through the utilization of idle and unproductive lots in all public schools in Negros Oriental.
Its ultimate goal is to maximize the productivity of school gardens and other water resources to complement the administration’s thrust for food production towards sustainable agriculture, provide additional income and food supply for the school feeding program, serve as a vehicle for relevant education for students and their family and to further enhance the socio-cultural well-being of the people and the community as well.
According to Lilani Cabrera, schools assistant division superintendent, the program is helpful to complement the dietary requirements of the children in line with the school feeding program because vegetables that are organically grown in the school gardens will be used instead of buying them from the markets.
Cabrera said the cooperation of parents is crucial because children have limited time in the school gardening program to water the plants, especially on weekends.
Provincial agriculturist Nestor Villaflores says the provincial government has allocated P2.8 million for the program this year as part of their mandate to stabilize food production in the province.
Part of the amount is used to provide tools to the schools including inputs, incentives to personnel, among others.
Almost 250 schools in the province have participated in the search for the best implementor of RRD CSC, 64 in the gulayan category and 25 in the palaisdaan category.
Champion in the Gulayan category in the 1st District is the P. Zamora Elementary School in Guihulngan City headed by the principal Apolonio Bulandres; Balayong Elementary School in Pamplona in the 2nd District headed by the principal Isabelita Culi; and Minaba Elementary School in the 3rd District with Emily Llandres as the principal.
They received P100,000 each in terms of projects from the provincial government and certificates of outstanding performance.
Champion in the Palaisdaan category is the Jantianon Elementary School in Amlan headed by the principal Danilo Montecino who brought home P55,000 worth of projects and a certificate of outstanding performance.
The search for outstanding implementers of RRD CSC is participated by six divisions of DepEd in the Province.
These are the Guihulngan City Division led by Supt. Eduardo Ompad, the Bais City Division headed by Supt. Woodrow Denuyo, Tanjay City Division led by Supt. Dexter Aguilar, Dumaguete City Divison led by Supt. Evangel Luminarias, Bayawan City Division led by Supt. Ofelia Hermosa, and Negros Oriental Division headed by Supt. Salustiano Jimenez. (Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
