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Students' nutrition also an education concern, says advocacy group

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Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Students at Ilaya Barangka Integrated School in Mandaluyong prepare to attend activities on National Students’ Day, Nov. 17, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/01/31/20221117-national-students-day-gc-1066.jpg"/><figcaption>Students at Ilaya Barangka Integrated School in Mandaluyong prepare to attend activities on National Students’ Day, Nov. 17, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — While Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte&#x27;s report identified several challenges in the country&#x27;s basic education system, it failed to tackle students&#x27; nutrition, an issue that affects their learning abilities, an advocacy group said Tuesday.</p><p>&quot;Maybe something that wasn&#x27;t really talked about yesterday but I think should be raised is that many students — and it&#x27;s really required [to have a] whole-of-government approach — many learners come to school undernourished,&quot; Justine Raagas, executive director for the Philippine Business for Education (PBED), said in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel.</p><p>Raagas was referring to Duterte&#x27;s Basic Education Report, which enumerated the multiple issues hounding the country&#x27;s basic education system as well as the Department of Education&#x27;s (DepEd) plans to address them.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/30/23/sara-duterte-bares-plans-to-address-basic-education-problems">Sara Duterte bares plans to address problems in basic education</a></li></ul><p>According to Ragas, 1 out of 3 five-year-olds in the Philippines &quot;are actually stunted and that&#x27;s a problem that begins earlier on in life.&quot;</p><p>&quot;If you have students who come to school malnourished, undernourished, stunted, their cognitive abilities are not as good as other kids,&quot; said Raagas, whose group includes education reform advocates from the business sector.</p><p>&quot;You can put the best teachers in the classroom, you can fix all the classrooms but a student won&#x27;t absorb the lessons that are taught. So that&#x27;s (nutrition) also a challenge that I think should be brought into the limelight,&quot; she added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/15/22/nutrition-food-insecurity-a-public-health-problem-study">Stunting, underweight, overweight, food insecurity remain public health problems: study</a></li></ul><p>While Duterte did not mention nutrition in her speech, the DepEd is implementing the School-Based Feeding Program, which provides free hot meals and milk to students.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2442123" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>During the Basic Education Report, Duterte also launched the &quot;MATATAG&quot; agenda, which would serve as the DepEd&#x27;s roadmap to resolve issues plaguing the basic education sector under her 6-year term.</p><p>PBED considers the agenda &quot;a very welcome development&quot; to address what it considers an education &quot;crisis&quot; in the country, said Raagas.</p><p>Raagas said the &quot;MATATAG&quot; agenda &quot;comes at a very opportune time,&quot; especially since a congressional body is also reviewing the whole education system.</p><p>&quot;[The] efforts that the DepEd can take in the next 6 years, given its agenda, can also be guided by reports and recommendations that the EDCOM (Congressional Commission on Education) can bring,&quot; she said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/04/23/congressional-body-to-begin-review-of-education-sector">Congressional body to begin review of PH education this month: Gatchalian</a></li></ul><p>The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), meanwhile, praised the DepEd for publicly admitting &quot;the undeniably dismal state of the basic education system.&quot;</p><p>But the group said the issues mentioned in the report were the same ones raised by other research groups, such as the World Bank and United Nations International Children&#x27;s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/04/22/global-report-bares-filipino-kids-poor-learning-skills">Less than 15 pct of Filipino kids can read simple text at age 10: UNICEF</a></li></ul><p>In a statement, ACT described the report as &quot;a summary of the promises already articulated by [Vice President] Duterte’s leadership in the past months.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Unfortunately, majority of which remained to be general promises that lack specific action plans and definite targets,&quot; it said.</p><p>The group said it would follow up on Duterte&#x27;s commitments to teachers, which includes helping educators face issues related to loans and the Government Service Insurance System.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2441472" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

PBED said the government must also address students' nutrition issues, which affects their learning.

Students' nutrition also an education concern, says advocacy group

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Students' nutrition also an education concern, says advocacy group

Jaehwa Bernardo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 31, 2023 01:40 PM PHT

|

Updated Jan 31, 2023 02:25 PM PHT

Read More:

education

basic education

Philippine Business for Education

Basic Education Report

Sara Duterte

Department of Education

malnutrition

nutrition

Alliance of Concerned Teachers

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