ADDRESSING MALNUTRITION

ANNABELL Q. CORTEZ

The Department of Education (DepEd), through the Bureau of Learners Support Services–School Health Division (BLSS–SHD), shall implement the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) for School Years (SY) 2017-2022 to address undernutrition among public school children.

The SBFP covers all Severely Wasted (SW) and Wasted (W) Kindergarten to Grade 6 pupils. The program primarily aims to improve the nutritional status of the beneficiaries by at least 70% at the end of 120 feeding days. Secondarily, it aims to increase classroom attendance by 85% to 100% and improve the children’s health and nutrition values and behavior. The program also aspires to boost classroom attendance by 85%.

Under the program, all schools are asked to establish and maintain the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) as a source of ingredients for the SBFP and encourage the families of beneficiaries to have their own home garden for the continuous nutritional improvement at home.

Several undertakings in Schools and Divisions have been done to address malnutrition among school children.

Last year, DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones launched Oplan Kalusugan (OK) sa DepEd Program, and recognized the vital role of all DepEd health personnel in the delivery of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for all.

The OK sa DepEd Program is a converging effort where health plans, policies, programs, and activities are implemented to ensure that all school children are provided with basic primary health and dental care to allow them to attain their full educational potential.

It will also ensure that all DepEd school health personnel and school children practice healthier behavior that they can do on their own, and get linked up with health providers and local government units (LGUs) for child and adolescent health services.

The OK sa DepEd Program is set to take its full implementation in July, school year (SY) 2018-2019, in close collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH), LGUs, and various stakeholders at the local and national l evel s.

Some of the major school health programs of the Department include the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP); Drug Education Campaign; Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) Education Program; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Program; and medical, dental, and nursing services.

Other school health advocacy and support programs of DepEd are the Gulayan sa Paaralan; Healthy School Environment; School-Based Immunization Program; Helminth Control; and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, among others.

— oOo— The author is Secondary School Teacher High School

I at San Vicente-San Francisco

MARIA AURORA C. ARCEO

Teachers have almost always been associated as merely classroom teachers where they teach their subject area be it their major or minor subject. Most often than not, they are confined in the parameters of the four corners of the classroom. But what really does it take to be a Classroom Teacher? It takes a lot of knowledge, wisdom coupled with discernment, patience, determination, passion for teaching and compassion to reach out to students.

However, highly effective teachers do not only conform to instructional supervision, classroom teachers are also required to act as Classroom Managers. Why is this necessary? The efficiency of teaching greatly lies in the efficacy of classroom management towards academic excellence. Therefore, it is inevitable that classroom teachers are also classroom managers because both have key roles in managing learning activities, promoting instructional procedures, monitoring prevailing attitudes and behaviors, ensuring and facilitating effective teaching-learning process and reinforcing quality standard performance through discipline and conducive learning atmosphere.

We must always bear in mind that the achievement of exemplary academic performance depends on the exceptional classroom management skills of the teacher. Effective discipline is not only characterized by strict implementation and subjection to school rules and regulations, discipline is also attributed to the appropriate training of the mind. When a child knows that it is proper to learn and study in the parameters of the classroom during the discussion of the lesson, his mind is notably conditioned and focused to absorb the learning process. Thus, the quality of education is improved.

It is in this regard that one secret of effective classroom management is revealed. Classroom teachers must first learn to manage themselves to become efficient classroom managers. When learners witness this, they follow the teacher by regulating themselves to stay calm, assertive, focused and respectful even in the midst of challenges and behavioral chaos. Then there is evident simultaneous transition when the classroom teacher becomes a classroom manager.

— oOo—

The author is Teacher II/ OIC TLE Department Head at Sindalan High School