The Supplementary Feeding Intervention of Baao Bar Board and Civil Service Club for Baao West Central School

Nutrition is the science that interprets the relationship of food to the functioning of the living organism. It is concerned with the intake of food, digestive processes, the liberation of energy, and the elimination of wastes, as well as with all the synthesis that are essential for maintenance, growth, and reproduction.

Malnutrition is the greatest problem of our country today. It is not due to the scarcity of food because the Philippines is rich in vegetable products but due to the wrong intake or improper utilization of food by the body. All throughout life, people need the same food nutrients but in the varying amounts depending upon their age, sex, size, activity, and state of health and parents should instill proper nutritional values in their children as early as possible, to avoid health complications in old-age.

Proper health and nutrition is a must at the very early stage of human development and learning. Good health and proper nutrition enable humans to easily acquire skills, learn more, and do more progressively in a short duration of time. Health and nutrition now stand as the most vital determinant to physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development of any individual. All these factors will lead us to our earliest learning process. As the world health organization defined, "Health is the complete physical, mental and social being, not just the absence of infirmity".

Learning is very important in child development. The proper supply of food and nutrients to children will enable them to easily acquire skills and develop and discover their maximum potentials. Malnourished school children are already at high risk not to normally develop their learning skills and poor attainment levels are related to a poor nutritional status. It follows that schools with children who consume substandard diets should find it difficult to produce academic performance equal to those schools with children who consume diets that come closer to providing the nutrients.

Malnutrition in children can affect acutely the brain development of a child. Among children who live in poverty, the acute nutrient deficiency will retard cognitive development and lead to educational failure. It also affects the emotional threshold of the child to accept stress. Malnutrition has far and wide effects spanning from physical and emotional magnitude thus the conduct of this research.

In deprived, depressed, and underserved barangays, malnutrition usually occurs. In a certain central school like Baao West, where there was a school populace of 1043 pupils from Grades I to VI.

To improve the nutritional status of the school children and at the same time improve their academic performance, the supplementary feeding intervention of the Baao Bar Board and Civil Service Club headed by their able club President, Mr. Francis B. Albalate through a commodity grant from P & A for a Cause (PAUSE), the corporate social responsibility of P & A Foundation represented by the PAUSE's Project Director, Vincent Benjamin E. De Guzman provided a financial contribution in support of the "Tabang sa Kasaraditan (Tabang)" in the amount of Php 100,000.00 to specifically cover enhanced feeding programs for the 100 beneficiary which has been implemented last School Year 2008-2009 from February to March 2009 exclusively for Baao West Central School. It benefited 100 identified below normal public school children. This research resulted to the importance of feeding intervention in improving the children's physical growth and learning attitude, and future productivity as adults.

The Baao Bar Board and Civil Service Club (BBBCSC) with the help of the Parents and Teachers Community Association provided snacks three times a week every morning for the selected school children with indigenous food rich in protein, energy and micronutrients. The parents of the recipient school children were group by grade level and they were assigned to prepare the snacks with the presence of some officers of the BBBCSC and the school nutrition coordinator.

The School Supplementary Feeding Program with the cooperating agency, which is the Baao Bar Board and Civil Service Club (BBBCSC), issued a Memorandum of Agreement to Baao West Central School which states the representatives of each party and the responsibilities of all concerned. The first party which is the Baao Bar Board and Civil Service Club represented by its Vice-President Mrs. Ma. Eusebia Gaite Quiñones and the P & A For A Cause Mr. Vincent Benjamin E. De Guzman, the second party, the Elementary School Principal II of Baao West Central School Dr. Jina-Luz Zamudio Alfelor. It stated that the second party recognizes its role in improving the nutritional well being of the school children under her responsibilities and likewise improve the school academic performance. This MOA was signed on 2^nd of February 2009, for two (2) months implementation.

By JINA-LUZ ZAMUDIO ALFELOR
West Central School
ESP – II