The next time your child complains
about his allowance, tell him that children in public elementary schools are allotted only
P15 per meal under the Department of Education’s (DepEd) school-based feeding
program (SBFP).
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| Milet Esguerra, who heads the STLC feeding program, interacts with the kids. |
“We’re giving a little more per
child at the Tabangao Elementary School,” says Milet Esguerra, who heads the
feeding program of the Shell Tabangao Ladies Circle (STLC) in Batangas City. She smiles when I appear shocked, but she’s
done her research.
The DepEd’s SBFP allocates a total
of P16 per child (P15 per meal; P1 for logistics like cooking utensils, office
supplies for reports, minimal transportation expenses, water, LPG, charcoal, firewood, and kerosene) for 120 days.
Even privately-funded feeding programs like Jollibee’s “Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT)” and Ateneo de Manila University’s “Blueplate”
allot P11 and P11.50 per child respectively.
