To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Heads, Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools

1. The Department of Education (DepEd) through the Health and Nutrition Center (HNC) is strengthening the School Health and Nutrition Programs (SHNP) into its key programs and aligning all its activities into one seamless whole. This is envisioned to make this Department better able to determine the effectiveness and relevance of its programs, and to make these more responsive to the DepEd’s mission of enhancing the student’s motivation and capacity for learning, improving learning outcomes, reducing absenteeism, and ensuring that school-age children are able to stay in school as enunciated in the Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
2. The SHNP, a key component of the Department’s thrusts, is designed to maintain and improve the health of schoolchildren by preventing diseases, promoting health-related knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices. Aligning the SHNP with the DepEd’s programs will keep it in step with its targets, and pave the way for a more systematic and holistic approach in the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of its multifarious undertakings.
3. For this purpose, the active participation of other government organizations (GOs), local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs), professional associations, other private-sector groups, and concerned individuals shall be intensified by enlisting their involvement in the preventive health care, poverty alleviation, hunger mitigation, public health awareness campaign, and all other programs aimed at promoting the health and nutritional status of schoolchildren and school personnel.
4. All regional directors (RDs), schools division/city superintendents (SDSs), and school officials shall take the lead in ensuring that school health and nutrition programs/projects are integrated in the regional/division annual and medium-term plans and School Improvement Plans (SIPs) with administrative and financial support, in line with the School-Based Management (SBM) principles. All school health and nutrition personnel shall be mobilized to scale up the implementation of these programs. The guidelines and matrix of activities are contained in the enclosure.
5. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

Encl.:
As stated
Reference:
None

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
HEALTH EDUCATION
NUTRITION EDUCATION
OFFICIALS
POLICY
PROGRAMS

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