Congress will soon enact a measure that will institutionalize the national school feeding program for public kindergarten and elementary school pupils.
This came after the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 5269 which aims to mitigate malnourishment among schoolchildren, thus ensuring that they will be adequately prepared for the formal learning system.
One of the bill’s authors, Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Carlos Zarate, said the measure shall establish a system for early identification, prevention, referral, and intervention of developmental disorders and disabilities in early childhood.
“The bill establishes the National School Feeding Program which shall serve as an alternative approach for providing free supplementary meals, including fresh milk and fresh milk-based food products, through a program menu particularly for all children studying in public kindergarten and elementary schools nationwide,” Zarate said.
The bill provides the Department of Education to lead the NSFP administration and implementation.
Several national government agencies, in coordination with the DepEd, shall be tasked to make available such resources as may be necessary to ensure the successful implementation of the NSFP.
They include the Department of Agriculture, National Food Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, National Dairy Authority, National Economic and Development Authority, National Nutrition Council and Food and Nutrition Research Center.
The bill states that aside from its consultative and inter-departmental coordinative functions, the DepEd shall also administer the NSFP in coordination with concerned government institutions.
The NSFP involves a minimum of 120 feeding days per school year to be done five days a week. There shall be one feeding activity per school day to provide the prescribed calorie and protein levels on dietary supplementation to be issued by the NNC.
The DepEd shall likewise ensure that the beneficiary schoolchildren eat their meals and drink their milk inside the classroom only, and shall thus be prohibited from taking their rations home.
Moreover, the DepEd shall conduct orientation-training activities utilizing its core of trainers to all DepEd health and nutrition unit personnel at the regional and division levels as to generate support for the NSFP’s objectives and mechanics.
The procurement, storage, and handling of appropriate food supplies shall be headed by the DepEd, in coordination with the NNC, the FNRI and other concerned government agencies.
The bill also provides for the creation of a Child Feeding and Nutrition Committee (CFNC), chaired by the DepEd Secretary or a duly authorized representative, co-chaired by the DOH Secretary or a duly authorized representative, and with members composed of a representative each from the NNC, DA, DILG, DSWD, DTI, NEDA, FDA, FNRI, NDA, teachers’ organizations, and parent-teacher associations.
It shall be the responsibility of the CFNC to formulate a school-based feeding and nutrition framework, oversee its review and evaluation, and may recommend the necessary refinements on the implementation of the NSFP.
The bill states that in case of shortage of funds, priority in the implementation of the NSFP shall be given to public kindergarten and elementary schools situated in municipalities and cities which are determined and identified by the NNC or by any competent government agency to have high malnutrition rates.
It adds that any donation or bequest made to the DepEd for the NSFP shall be exempt from the donor’s tax and the same shall be considered as allowable deduction from the gross income of the donor, in accordance with the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, as amended.