3,881 gradeschoolers in Makati receive free lunch in feeding program

Johnny D. Guevarra / PNA stock photo

MANILA — A total of 3,881 students are the beneficiaries of Project FEED (Food for Excellent Education and Development), a supplementary feeding program relaunched by the city government of Makati in partnership with the Department of Education-Makati.

The city-funded program is aimed at providing adequate nourishment to underweight schoolchildren in all 27 public elementary schools in the city, through providing a complete and nutritious meal for lunch five days a week for three months.

Dr. Dominico Idanan, Dep-Ed Makati superintendent, said that nutritional deficiencies and malnutrition result in absenteeism and low classroom performance of pupils. Thus, he said, Project FEED has been conceptualized to address the nutritional needs of undernourished schoolchildren in the city’s public elementary schools.

For his part, DepEd-National Capital Region Assistant Director Ponciano Menguito said the program “gives substance to the DepEd vision of harnessing a learner-centered institution.”

Under the project, beneficiaries are being provided with free lunch from Monday to Friday for a period of 120 school days.

The DepEd will then conduct an evaluation on the third month of the program to determine those students who have already attained their normal weight, and those who still need more assistance.

The school nurses weigh the pupils every 60 days, while their parents are advised to follow up the eating habits of their children at home.

In 2005, the city government launched Project FEED in all public elementary schools in the city. Underweight students from grades one to six were enrolled in the program and were given free meals at lunchtime to attain normal weight for their age.