00:00Recognizing the importance of nutrition and academic success, the Marcos administration has placed a strong emphasis on improving the health and well-being of the country's young learners.
00:11To reinforce this commitment, the government significantly increased the budget for the Department of Education on DepEd's school-based feeding program, tripling its original allocation.
00:22PTV's Floyd Brands has the report.
00:25Teresita Reyes, a Wayspeaker, struggles to make ends meet with her daily earnings of P200. This amount barely covers the basic needs of her grandchildren.
00:37It's very difficult. Sometimes, we don't have enough budget.
00:41How many times have you been to school?
00:42Once, twice, once, twice.
00:46Despite her challenges, Teresita expresses her gratitude on the feeding programs in their school, which benefit her grandkids, which help elevate their daily struggles.
00:56They are happy because they are getting full. They are happy because their budget is getting reduced.
01:03President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has directed the Education Department to focus on improving the nutrition of schoolchildren.
01:10According to DepEd, the budget for the school-based feeding program has been tripled from over P3 billion to P11 billion, with plans to cover more children.
01:20The program aims to provide nutritious meals to children from kindergarten through elementary school.
01:26With a total of 160 feeding days and an additional 15 days for the National Learning Camp, the initiative is set to address malnutrition in the country.
01:35Education Secretary Sani Angara emphasized the importance of nutrition, especially for young children whose brains develop rapidly before they reach five years of age.
01:45We have this exam called the CARLA exam. It measures the literacy of the child, the ability to read.
01:52It improved, especially at the early grades. It shows that the earlier we intervene, the better.
02:00Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development is stepping up efforts to ensure no Filipino goes hungry.
02:07The DSWD is currently providing monthly food assistance of P3,000 to 300,000 households, benefiting over a million Filipinos.
02:16The agency's Walang Gutom Kitchen also continues to distribute hot meals to those in needs.
02:22No Filipino should go hungry.
02:26That is why the DSWD is striving to harmonize and align the various programs and services of the national government agencies
02:36and that would continue to partner with the private sector so that we could collectively come up with sustainable solutions that would ultimately address the problem on hunger and malnutrition.
