Catbalogan City, Samar-The Provincial Government of Samar through the active leadership of Governor Sharee Ann T. Tan in collaboration with the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) the Department of Education (DepEd) came up with a holistic approach in addressing malnutrition among school children in the Province of Samar.
The project is entitled Parent Teacher Community Association (PTCA) Sustainable Organic Vegetable Production and Processing in Sixteen (16) Selected Public Schools with High Incidence of Malnutrition in Samar. The project aims to improve the nutritional status of wasted and severely wasted school children through the PTCA sustainable organic vegetable production and food processing to complement the School-Based Feeding Program of DepEd. The establishment of organic vegetable gardens will serve as the main source of food to complement the school’s supplementary feeding program. Likewise, these schools will serve as learning site which will showcase small-scale production models in schools that can be replicated at the household level and which will eventually provide food security for the family. Further, to provide the community with livelihood project, the proposal included the establishment of four (4) processing centers for the production of “vege chips” as substitute of junk foods at school canteens and even at the barangay stores.
In the 2017, Nutritional Status Report of the Department of Education Samar Province, out of 94,056 kinder to Grade 1-6 school children enrolled and weighed in 31 Elementary Schools, 9.75% or 9,173 are undernourished. This high incidence of malnutrition was observed in 16 public schools that can be found in the fourteen (14) municipalities of the province, to include: Almagro, Gandara, Pagsanghan, Sta. Margarita, Sto. Nino, Jiabong, Motiong, San Sebastian, Sta. Rita, Villareal, Talalora, San Jose de Buan, Paranas, and Zumarraga.
In the long run, the project is expected to lower down the drop-out rate, lessen the delinquency in attendance and deterioration of health, provide appreciation on nutritional values and behavior affecting the community especially the children. The project is expected to be implemented in 2018 by the Provincial Government of Samar in collaboration with the Department of Education. (Naslabordo, NNC8)
