THE DEPARTMENT of Education launched “Oplan Kalusugan” at the Quirino High School in Quezon City to promote the health and safety of learners.

“We are now exiting, and I do hope that as we exit the pandemic of Covid-19, we are able to prepare and support to ensure that our children and our learners in all our educational institutions, especially in the institutions that we are supervising whether in the public or private schools,” Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said.

OK aims to improve implementation of school-based nutrition program and services; provide all public school teachers with health and nutritional services; ensure the wellness of Deped personnel through basic medical care; generate information of health and nutrition records of the learners for planning and programming, and maximize opportunities for better and wider coverage of health and nutrition services.

The program also includes initiatives for drug education, adolescent reproductive health, water, sanitation, and cleanliness, as well as dental care and mental health.

Since education and health are two of the three “foundations of economic growth,” Densing said that the DepEd must address these issues.

“We ensure that they are healthy and that they are not permitted to be sick or infected by any disease. It is our responsibility as second parents in these institutions, that we ensure the health of our learners,” he said.