MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is committing a nearly tenfold budget increase to roll out universal school feeding for all kindergarten and Grade 1 learners in public schools, positioning early nutrition as a core intervention in fixing learning gaps.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said on Monday, February 2, at Gen. Pio del Pilar National High School in Makati City that the expanded School-Based Feeding Program will cover 180 school days per school year, the first time universal feeding will be implemented at the earliest grade levels nationwide.
Angara said the scale-up reflects evidence that poor foundations in the early years weaken learning outcomes later on, with nutrition, readiness, and home support directly affecting classroom performance.
“If you look at countries that are advanced in education, they focus on the foundation, and if the foundation is weak, the building or whatever will be built is also weak, so definitely, and it does not just involve what we teach in the classroom, it involves what we do at home, how we bring up our children,” Angara said.
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He said the feeding expansion forms part of a broader learner-centered reform push, alongside changes in teaching methods and assessment, particularly in kindergarten and the early grades.
The announcement was made during the International Day of Education celebration, where education partners also stressed that learner participation helps ensure reforms respond to actual classroom conditions rather than policy assumptions.
