Jordan, Guimaras opens ‘Nutri-Pan sa Eskwelahan’
JORDAN, Guimaras – The provincial government unit of Guimaras recently inaugurated its ‘Nutri-Pan sa Eskwelahan,’ a bakery that was designed to provide fortified bread to school children.
The project, located adjacent the municipal hall of the Municipality of Jordan, was funded through the provincial development of Guimaras and the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) of Rep. JC Rahman Nava.
It was initiated to improve the nutritional status of the school children and consequently improve the performance of their school.
“Guimaras is the first LGU in the region to fund this type of project,” said Fe Suelan, area program officer of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines, as she lauded the initiative of the province to come up with the said hunger mitigating program.
It was reported that about 21.27 percent of school children in Guimaras were underweight based on the 2007 nutrition status report.
The lack of proper nourishment could result the low IQ, low learning skills and low academic performance of school children.
To address the concern the provincial government, the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition decided to embark on the food fortification program such that pandesal bread that will be baked at the ‘Nutripan sa Eskwelahan’.
It will have the standard nutritional value to be determined by the National Nutrition Council (NNC). (PNA)
