SOME 3,000 to 4,000 pupils have already benefited from a month long feeding program implemented by the city government since July this year.

City Nutrition Officer Leah Aquino, project coordinator, said the pupils were from preparatory to Grade III in different public schools in the city.

The feeding program, which could serve as a model for the whole country, lasts for one month and zeroes in on children with below normal weight.

The daily feeding is part of the priority programs of Mayor Alipio Fernandez and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez to raise the level of nutrition among public school children in the city.

Aquino said both officials believe that if a child is well nourished, he or she can perform well in school.

Dagupan City is lucky, she said, because the CSI Group of Companies owned by Vice Mayor Fernandez as well as the Rotary Club of Uptown Dagupan headed by Dr. Lucy Honrado  supported the project.

The Department of Education through Schools Superintendent Aurora Domingo endorsed the daily feeding program.

The CSI supplies some of the food requirement of the project like milk, chocolate, noodles, rice porridge, canned goods, biscuits and others under its own Project Belen which stands for Breakfast Enhances Learning Education and Nutrition.

Those who benefited from the feeding project are students of the North Central School, East Central Elementary School, Sabangan Elementary School, Salapingao Elementary School,  and the elementary schools, in Lucao, Bonuan Boquig and Bolosan.

The pupil beneficiaries first underwent de-worming and have their weight taken.

Their weight is taken again at the end of the feeding program to monitor improvement.

Aquino said part of the activity includes lectures and home visit to pupils in order to advice their parents on how to produce  cheap but nutritious food.—LM

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