G for GO, Y for PREPARE

CIELA MANALO-PATIO

Released on March 2017, DepEd Order 13 s. 2017 is yet another cry that indeed, change is coming. This time, it is on the food and beverage choices in schools. Green, Yellow, Red. These are the colors that are used to regulate traffic. DepEd uses such colors to highlight nutrition facts of food and beverages to ensure that only healthy options are to be offered by school canteens.

It is certainly not enough that every July, nutrition month is celebrated nor it is sufficient that feeding programs are carried out when the target is to be instrumental in fighting malnutrition, and at the same time influential in promoting sound eating lifestyle. Green, Yellow, Red. The school must know when to GO with offering only the nutritious snacks or meals, when to carefully PREPARE less nutritious snacks or meals, and when to STOP serving unhealthy food and beverage items. And the school can never go wrong if it follows what is stipulated in DepEd Order 13.

Which is which? Let’s get familiar with these three “food groups”. GREEN. They contain wide range of nutrients. Their saturated fat is less than three grams. They have no trans fat. Added sugar is less than 10 grams per serving. Sodium is less than 120 mg per serving.

YELLOW. They contain some nutrients but at the same time contain more than 3 to 5 grams of saturated fat per serving, or they have no trans fat. Added sugar is more than 10 grams but less than 20 grams per serving, or sodium is more than 120 mg to 200 mg per serving.

RED. They contain more than 5 grams of saturated fat per serving, or contain trans fat. Added sugar or total carbohydrates is more than 20 grams per serving, or sodium is more than 200 mg per serving.

This means that ONLY Green and Yellow Food groups should be available in the school canteen. Yellow food and beverage items may be served once or twice per week only, in smaller servings, and should be less prominent in the options or canteen menu.

Just as teachers should nourish the minds of the students, the school canteen’s snacks and meals should also nourish the bodies of the students. Learning is still a physical activity. It requires a body getting enough nutrien t s.

— oOo—

The author is Teacher I at Duquit High School

NOEL AQUINO

Poverty continues to be an unbreakable chain at present. Educational reports show that one in every six children is suffering from poverty-stricken life. Throughout the years, the inequity of household income has increased and for several families, the extent and depth of poverty are also heightened. Poverty-related problems are reported, observed and attested to pose negative impacts on learners’achievement, performance and behavior in school.

Several children who are economically disadvantaged are most vulnerable to academic and educational problems. Educational outcomes of children are directly affected by poverty. School achievement of poor children tends to be comparatively lower than the learning performance of children from financially well-off or affluent families. This is because poverty-stricken households tend to have lower or lack of capacity to purchase learning materials for children, sustain the school expenses and avail the services of educational experts and trainers. Risk factors associated with poverty are viewed to pose negative impacts on children’s cognitive development and academic achievement .

School readiness indicates a child’s capacity and ability to reach success levels and gains in both academic and social aspects in school. To develop a sufficient and strong level of school readiness for a child entails having good physical status and well-being, emotional stability, sound health, positive and favorable approach to new learning experiences, developmentally-appropriate social skills and knowledge, strong level of language proficiency and ageappropriate over-all literacy skills, knowledge and cognitive abilities. However, all these aspects of school readiness tend to decrease due to the ill effects of poverty on children’s education.

Researches and studies in the field of education have shown and attested that there are six components of poverty that tend to hamper children’s school readiness and educational preparedness. These are the incidence, depth, duration, timing, community and school-based characteristics of poverty and the effects of poverty on children’s socialization. Children from poverty-stricken and indigent families are typically found to receive the least level of stimulation and parental motivation to learn the basic literacy and social skills necessary to prepare them for school. Parents from poor households are commonly observed to be lacking in parental consistency in terms of daily parental routines and duties needed to sufficiently guide their children in the course of educational journey. Poor parents generally lack the role modeling skills necessary to motivate and prepare their children to school. Typically, children from poor households perform poorly in academic areas like vocabulary development, communication skills, numeracy, reading, language and other academic competencies.

— oOo—

The author is Teacher II at Duquit High School, Mabalacat City