Food For School Program benefits 11.5 M since 2004
BACOLOD CITY – Since the program’s inception in late 2004, it has served 11.5 million beneficiaries to date.
Food for School Program is a multi-agency program involving the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Food Authority.
The program is a response in fighting malnutrition among schoolchildren and pre-schoolers while encouraging such students to stay in school for them to avail of the 1 kilo rice ration everyday for certain number of days.
Prior to the launching of the program by the present administration, there was no similar program of this kind.
In Negros Occidental, the National Food Authority together with DepEd and DSWD continue to deliver the benefits of the program.
For the school year 2009-2010, DepEd has identified four municipalities namely: Calatrava, Cauayan, Don Salvador Benedicto and Moises Padilla. The program will cater to 140 schools in the four municipalities.
Since late November 2009, NFA and DepEd are conducting a 41-day Food for School to these municipalities which totaled to 21,508 bags distributed to Grade 1 to 3 students.
Also, DSWD has distributed around 5,453 bags of rice to pre-schoolers of Day Care Centers in the four municipalities. All rice rations are iron-fortified pursuant to the instructions to NFA.
As of August 2009, consolidated records from NFA revealed that 26,222 school children benefitted from the Food For School Program in the province.
Aside from the 41-days, the program is set to extend for seven days this month but DepEd and DSWD are yet to identify the beneficiaries where NFA can supply the needed bags of iron-fortified rice to schools. (PIA/EAD)
