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DepEd targets pre-school, first grade students

Iloilo City (4 July 2005) -- The Department of Education and Culture is currently targeting the physical and mental development of pre-school and first-grade students in public schools, with the line-up of three important programs, the Supplemental Feeding Program, the Universal Medical and Dental Check-up and the Pre-School sa Bawat Barangay. Its Visayas launching was held in Iloilo City recently.

The three programs are collaborative efforts of the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Council for the Welfare of Children, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and the local governments across the country.

According to the DepEd, with the three programs, it expects that the drop-out rates would be reduced and it would improve the ability of young children to adapt quickly to the learning demands of elementary school.

DepEd reports that most children who drop out from school do so between the first and third grades. Two of the most frequent reasons for the drop-out rate is the child's being undernourished and short term hunger, which hinders the child from participating in the classroom Pre-elementary and first grade students are the most nutritionally at-risk because they are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally. Children who drop-out from school early are more likely to suffer from low levels of literacy later on.

Per DepEd records Western Visayas Region has shown alarming trends of undernourishment among schoolchildren. At the beginning of school year 2003-2004, the region had the highest incidence of underweight elementary pupils in the country, with more than 31 percent of children with below-average weight-for-age. The second highest incidence of underweight children came from MIMAROPA Region with 28.9 percent.

Thus with the Supplemental Feeding program, it will provide first graders with milk and breakfast supplements composed of iron-fortified rice, instant noodles or biscuits for 120 days. The nutritional status of beneficiaries will be measured before and after the feeding.

On the other hand, the Universal Dental and Medical check-up will mobilize volunteer health professionals to administer these check-ups and gather more comprehensive information on the health status of all first-grade students. Past efforts to administer health check-ups to elementary students were hindered by lack of school health personnel, which the DepEd is trying to address.

In addition to the two other programs, the 'Pre-School sa Bawat Barangay" will expand and augment existing day care centers and pre-schools to ensure that every child has access to pre-schooling before they enter first grade. Funding for the pre-school expansion efforts will be jointly shouldered by the DepEd, DSWD, CWC, the local government units and parent-teacher community associations. (PIA-6)

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