To:    Undersecretaries
Assistant SecretariesBureau DirectorsRegional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents

1.The Department of Education (DepEd) through the Health and Nutrition Center (HNC) has been undertaking the Essential Health Care Program (EHCP) in EHCP- implementing schools nationwide. Its institutionalization in the school setting was facilitated by the issuance of DepEd Order No. 65, s. 2009 entitled, Implementation of the Essential Health Care Program (EHCP) for School Children. This seeks to curb the incidence of diseases associated with poor hygiene and sanitation practices among the country’s school children through the provision of safe drinking water, toilets and hand-washing facilities in schools in combination with an effective hygiene and deworming campaign.

2. In this connection, this Department, together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Fit for School (FIT) have developed the EHCP Monitoring and Evaluation System to: (a) strengthen the school-based management of EHCP; (b) assess properly the program coverage; and (c) facilitate effective program steering at all levels of the Department. It utilizes the Monitoring Form with an Action Plan, and an On-line Monitoring System (OMS) as the necessary tools for this program. Please see enclosures for the Monitoring Forms.

3. The DepEd personnel at the central, regional and division offices can access processed data for their use by logging in at this website http: //oms.fitforschool.ph/. The username and password will be provided to the personnel-in-charge of the data base at the division level. A training workshop shall be conducted for this purpose.

4. The use of Monitoring Tool shall take effect starting August 2011 in all EHCP- implementing schools.

5. In the light of the above provisions, the school officials are enjoined to coordinate with their respective Division Health and Nutrition Sections (DHNS) to ensure proper and effective use of the monitoring tool, consistent with the provisions of the implementing guidelines.

6.Immediate dissemination of and compliance with this Order is directed.

ALBERTO T. MUYOT (Signed)
Undersecretary
Officer-in-Charge

Reference: DepEd Order: (No. 65, s. 2009)
To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:

CAMPAIGN
HEALTH EDUCATION
POLICY
PUPIL
DO No. 61, s. 2011