Simultaneous Kusina ng Kalinga kicks off
COMPOSTELA Valley Province- Eleven municipalities in ComVal simultaneously kicked off the “Bayanihan para sa Kalusugan-Kusina ng Kalinga" (BPSK-KnK) program on September 5, 2017 in selected public elementary schools.
The program is a local intervention to combat malnutrition among elementary pupils in public schools in partnership with the provincial government, DepEd-Comval and Gawad Kalinga. It adopts the central kitchen approach in implementing the school-based feeding program. The selected pupils will be fed for 120 days with healthy and nutritious food.
Presently, a total of 9,889 elementary pupils were identified as undernourished in public elementary schools in the province.
Since its pilot launching in Maco Heights Central Elementary School, exactly the same day last year, the program has achieved a success rate of 93.4% or a total of 770 school children who have reached the normal nutritional status after 120 days of feeding.
The nutritious food will be prepared and cooked by trained staff in the 14 central kitchens located within the schools. Once food are prepared and packed, it will now be delivered to various neighboring schools in the municipality. There are 253 elementary school-beneficiaries provincewide.
“We are hitting three birds in one stone in this program,” said Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy. He explained that it helps in sustainable development goal to end hunger; second, for the disaster preparedness program where it can provide freshly cooked meals for the evacuees; third, providing health and nutrition for the children since they are also using iron-fortified rice. The program will also help the teachers as there are assigned kitchen staff for the feeding.