BANAUE, IFUGAO – – While teachers stay late at night just to prepare their lesson plans and other learning materials, they also go an extra mile in ensuring the promotion of the young’s well-being in another equally vital point of interest.
So the mentors of Banaue Central School were tapped recently in the innovative “Oplan sa Kalusugan sa DepEd” (Operation for Health of the DepEd) program so that its pupils can avail themselves of medical and dental services without spending for the same.
The “Oplan sa Kalusugan sa DepEd” program carries an agenda and plan of action for the purpose of encouraging more medical, dental and health-related practitioners to take an active role in promoting the health care program, and also in equal importance, in underserved socio-economic sectors.
The partnership of the education sector with other agencies in the public sector as well as kind-hearted individuals in the private sector, will improve the access of impoverished pupils to health programs, said Officer-in-Charge (OIC) master teacher Genoveva Humiwat.
“Only a few could afford to go to a private hospital or clinic or see a private doctor or dentist. Our ultimate goal, therefore, is to promote the welfare of our pupils through this noteworthy activity,” Humiwat told the ZigZag Weekly.
Banaue Central School, one of the major learning institutions in Ifugao, has been designated to help the Department of Education (DepEd) to advance the cause of ensuring a healthy student populace throughout the country.
The school, situated at barangay Poblacion, has 741 pupils. There are 27 teachers, two administrative aides, a school nurse and two security guards.
Many showed up for registration and availed of the free medical and dental clinic.
“We thank the doctors and dentists who took part in the free medical and dental clinic, ever mindful of the pressing needs of our pupils, especially those to their health and dental care,” Humiwat said.
Humiwat said the school has had its share of fulfilling lessons in its fight against malnutrition through the feeding program. The program’s beneficiaries include kindergarten up to grade six pupils.
It has been said that having proper nutrition is so important. School children should be able to meet the basic nutritional requirements needed for them to properly develop and grow. Sadly, the malnutrition problem persists. In provinces like Ifugao where poverty is rampant, cases of severe malnutrition due to abject poverty are not isolated.
A 2013 Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) survey showed that 29.1 percent of Filipino children between the ages of 5 and 10 are underweight, while 8.6 percent are considered to be wasted or severely wasted. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) defined wasted and severely wasted as those children whose weigh is below minus two deviations from the median weight of then targeted population.
For his part, Board Member Victor Bunnol Jr. said the value of maintaining proper nutrition has been held sacred and dear by all in the education sector since time immemorial. He is the chairman of the committee on health and sanitation.
“Meeting the proper nutritional requirement plays a crucial role on the performance of students, both in academic and non-academic courses. So the government should be on top of it in so far as addressing this issue resolutely,” Bunnol quipped.
In a statement, he stressed that “the health of our people is a major concern of Philippine society.”
Over the years, the clear cut explanation for the unbelievable and uncanny “mounting incidence of hunger” in underserved communities has emerged. It simply boils down to lack of resources to buy food and neglect and inaction by those who walk in the corridors of power. When one thinks of the hunger problem vis-à-vis the growing instances of malnutrition in far flung villages, the malnourished Banaue Central School grader in foregoing figures is probably not the first that comes to mind. However, this underprivileged pupil might not only be the sole concern of the officialdom due to increasing difficult economic times as a result of the surge of prices of basic commodities brought about by the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law. For short, the reality of poverty in Ifugao is heartbreaking.
Banaue, like the other ten towns of the province, has a high poverty incidence rate. Pupils of Banaue Central School are poor. They are burdened by the high cost of hospitalization as well as costly medicines. Thus, extending them essential medical and dental services is indeed heaven-sent.
In an exclusive interview with the ZigZag Weekly, Mrs. Humiwat in stressing the significance of the one-day activity, motioned that “we are not taking short cuts or went the ordinary way to respond to the needs of our pupils in so far as developing the physical potentials to the fullest.”
Gains from the “Gulayan sa Paaralan” (Vegetable Garden at School) has been recorded and practical lessons were passed on to different batches of pupils by Elizabeth Ognayon, the school’s past principal who was recently promoted. Mrs. Ognayon’s contributions to youth welfare and development at Banaue Central School as well as Lagawe Central School where she also served as principal became paramount in her illustrious career.
And here is a unique group of education officials who knew to concentrate its limited resources in the countryside.
“Oplan Kalusugan sa DepEd” entails the provision of lectures and the actual conduct of deworming, hand washing, tooth brushing, anti-drug abuse, reproductive health, medical and dental clinic and feeding of pupils.
But if you don’t want to be bothered with understanding all the ill-effects of the woes faced by a public school like Banaue Central School, take a pause and ignore the following facts. There are 72 pupils covered by the school’s underfunded feeding program. According to school data, there are 18 malnourished pupils. Further, it was revealed that 16 pupils fell under the “wasted” status (under the body mass description) and 76 pupils in “stunted” status (under the height for boy’s description).
Incorporated with the alarming number of self-rated poor households in the province, there is nothing more troubling than analyzing the number of the school’s pupils who are under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programa (conditional cash transfer program) or 4Ps. There are 143 of them. The 4Ps program is widely viewed as a dole-out tool of the national government.
However not everyone has not given up hope just yet.
Board Member Bunnol, Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones and a number of well-meaning, generous and caring individuals in the private sector are steadfast in their commitment to make a turnaround in the overall situation and invariably make a difference in the lives of these poor learners. Surely, Secretary Briones- a teacher herself, is fully aware how hard conditions are in rural areas. Briones, an alumnus of the University of the Philippines, painstakingly take efforts to lessen the immeasurable amount of human suffering endured by poor pupils and students in public schools. It is a sad condition that most officials in the provincial government would rather drive away teachers in need of funds for essential projects, like dirt swept under a rug. Unmindful of the fact the constitution clearly says that education should get the biggest chunk of the budget. Many balked from the idea of seeing their officials at the prospect of being rejected outright for their legitimate request for assistance. In effect, sending a chilling message that they can’t even have access to public funds accrued from the people’s taxes and it makes no sense at all.
As it is, the 27 teachers of Banaue Central School play a good part in all of the issue’s complexity. They are always expected to inject new ideas and initiate activities that will keep their pupils occupied, stimulated and inspired. They are Dahlia Nora Lina Bangngo and Rose Sharon Dinamling, kindergarten; Gladys Balajo, Marie Joy Binwag, Jasmine Panhon and Flordakiza Piggangay, grade one; Aida Antonio, Faith Bandao, Rosalina Dalluyon and Janet Pagtoyao, grade two; Benelyne Balanhi, Isabel Batton, Margarita Buluyungan and Jovita Yogyog, grade three; Evangeline Benohlan, Mary Blas, Caroline Mico and Alice Muntinig, grade four; Junibel Abuyo, Jimmy Bandao, Jocelyn Dulappe and Domingo Lugninon, grade five; and Ireneo Napadao, Analiza Pokiawon, Precious Pomilban and Evelyn Tundagui, grade six. Romeo Dulnuan is the TLE teacher. Caridad Dangatag is the school nurse. Administrative aides are Cecilia Guinobang and Lydia Ordillo. Angelica Dumac is the security guard. The school also employs a night shift security guard.
It isn’t hard to imagine the difficulties the pupils of Banaue Central School went through these times. Encountering congested classrooms and inadequate textbooks and other instructional materials were hard enough, what more if they were to go to school without taking their breakfast? Statistics on malnutrition at Banaue Central School and other schools in Ifugao are grim and unthinkable. The effects of malnutrition are permanent, irreversible and fatal. They persist even during adulthood. If unresolved, malnutrition will ultimately endanger the health of the young, diminishes their intellectual performance throughout their entire lifetime. It is an opportune time to make the “Oplan sa Kalusugan sa DepEd” really work for these school children stand to immensely benefit from it, coming from the heels that July is Nutrition Month. The school children’s health remains, and forever shall stay, a top priority. There is such a thing as priority, the lack of which, as past and present officials have shown, can have dire consequences. **By Anthony A. Araos
