AN AVERAGE of 2,191,442 malnourished and undernourished learners benefited annually from School-Based Feeding Program initiated by the Department of Education.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said DepEd and other agencies have launched projects providing milk and bread for learners.

“Our ideal and our ambition is that we don’t distinguish between and among malnourished and undernourished. All children must be fed when they are going to school as they are also fed in other countries,” Briones said on Saturday.

This year, DepEd and the Department of Agriculture aim to provide fresh milk to some 3.3 million students in more than 34,000 public schools nationwide.

Data provided by the DepEd showed that 2.5 million schoolchildren are enjoying the nutritional benefits from the milk feeding program.

For School Year 2020-2021, around 3,138,223 children in 33,760 schools benefited from the milk component of SBFP.

The joint DepEd-DA milk feeding program is in compliance with Republic Act No. 11037, or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act signed by President Duterte last June of 2020.