Cagayan de Oro City — The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Northern Mindanao has transferred funds amounting to P42,810,800 to the Department of Education to feed the severely wasted Kinder and Grades I-VI pupils and their families in the whole region.
Lawyer Araceli F. Solamillo said the transfer of funds aims to address the under nutrition problem and short term hunger among public school children in Northern Mindanao through the School- Based Feeding Program.
Solamillo and DepEd officials had recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to implement the feeding program.
The implementation of the program is the response of DSWD to the recent DepEd Nutritional Assessment Report for SY 2012-2013 which revealed that 14.24% or about 2 million school children are wasted and 0.4 million school children are overweight.
DSWD is responsible in releasing funds to the DepEd in accordance with COA circular numbers 94-013 dated December 13, 1994 which tasks DSWD to help DepEd in the monitoring of fund management, utilization, program implementation and respond to operational concerns of the SBFP and shall likewise designate a project focal person to ensure that the implementation of the program is administered.
On the other hand, DepEd shall be responsible for the full implementation of the SBFP and ensure timely release of funds to the division offices and its liquidation.
Sheryl Ave, focal person of Supplementary Feeding Program of DSWD Northern Mindanao, said that based on the program, DepEd will provide food in addition to the regular meals of severely wasted school children to address the under nutrition problem and short term hunger among public school children.
Ave also clarified that the wasted children may also be included in the program of a local government unit or of a non-government organization.
“The food supplementation will be in a form of hot meals to be served once a day during snack/meal time five days a week for 120 days to target beneficiaries,”she said.
Parents of the beneficiaries will managed the feeding program based on a prepared meal cycle using available indigenous food supplies.
Written by Oliver Badel Inodeo, DSWD Northern Mindanao
==