FORTIFIED RICE FOR SCHOOLS. World Food Program Cotabato head, Dr. Mischael Argonza leads the launching of a feeding program for school children in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao along with BARMM education officials on Tuesday (Nov. 12, 2019). The fortified iron rice program for schools across the region aims to help improve school attendance and academic performance of the children. (Photo courtesy of MBHTE-BARMM)
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- To improve health and school attendance of school children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the region’s education ministry and United Nation’s World Food Program (UN-WFP) launched Tuesday a regional schools’ feeding program piloted in Maguindanao.
Dubbed as “Fortified Iron Rice for School Feeding,” the launching was held at Mao Elementary School in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao.
The program aims to help improve the school attendance and performance of children in BARMM by serving them iron-fortified rice during school feeding schedules.
Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) said the initiative is also expected to benefit local farmers as the WFP will source the rice from them.
About 69 schools in 12 municipalities of Maguindanao were targeted as pilot areas. It will eventually be duplicated in other parts of the region.
Iqbal said the program was also in pursuance to RA 8976 or the Food Fortification Law and the newly signed RA 11037 or “An Act Institutionalizing National Feeding Program for Undernourished Children in Public Day Care, Kindergarten and Elementary Schools to Combat Hunger and Under-Nutrition Among Filipino Children.”
Iron, in health parlance, is a nutrient that is essential to a child’s growth and development.
In a statement, BARMM education and health officials said studies show that iron deficiency can adversely affect a child’s health, and, consequently, their ability to attend and perform in school.
“We will ensure that no child in the Bangsamoro gets left behind. We need to guarantee that they are not only well educated but also in good health,” Iqbal said.
He added that MBHTE-BARMM is not only focusing on interventions that cater to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual development of the children but also their physical and mental growth.
A comprehensive health program is among the 12-point priority agenda of BARMM, headed by Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim. During the launching, Dr. Mishael Argonza, WFP Cotabato head, urged government officials and the farmers to help each other to achieve total development in Maguindanao and the BARMM as a whole.
"This is the first fortified iron rice that passed government standards,” Argonza said.
Maguindanao Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu gave her all-out support for the program and expressed appreciation to BARMM and WFP for choosing her town as a pilot area.
“If it is for the good of the people of Maguindanao, my all-out support is always there,” she said in the vernacular. (With a report from Noel Punzalan/PNA)
