Epson Precision (Philippines), Inc. (EPPI) and Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) launched the Epson School-Based Supplementary Feeding Program on Friday, September 6, 2024 at San Sebastian Elementary School in Lipa, Batangas. 

This120-day supplementary feeding program will provide all100 grades 4 to 6learners whose nutrition have been measured to fall under wasted and severely-wasted with a daily balanced meal that complies with the Cycle Menu recommended by Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). The initiative also supported the improvement of the school’s feeding facility and provision of kitchen supplies. Through this feeding program, Epson Precision also supports the schools’ existing urban vegetable gardens, in line with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) which encourages basic education institutions to establish vegetable gardens. 

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Strengthening the Learner’s Foundation 

Based on the school’s experience, cases of absenteeism, that led to eventual dropping out of a child from their roster, have been very common among pupils. One of the main reasons is the inability of the parents to consistently provide food or “baon”  every day to their children going to school. This has contributed to the child’s lack of motivation in attending classes and would rather stay at home, instead of completing their elementary education. 

PBSP, with its rich track record in health and education dating back to the early 70s,advocates that the attainment of a decent basic education is always a good head start for children ages 3 to 13 years old because this enables them to learn the basics of reading, writing, drawing, and counting as well as the basic concepts of mathematics, science, and history. This in turn, gives them the important educational foundation that they need before they begin their journey in secondary school. 

“Proper nutrition is especially important in an educational institution because poor nutrition means poor learning. This school-based feeding program in San Sebastian Elementary School is part of our continuous commitment in addressing hunger, malnutrition, and learning poverty, with the hope that we contribute to the improvement of quality of life and education of the children. This has been one of PBSP’s missions since its founding in 1970,to alleviate, if not eliminate, poverty and hunger, and uplift the lives of the Filipino people. With Epson and all our members, we continue to strive to realize this mission,” said Elvin Ivan Y. Uy, PBSP Executive Director. 

Under the program, the selected beneficiaries will undergo medical assessment, deworming, vitamin supplementation and will be provided with hot and nutritious meals for the prescribed 120 days. This is expected to motivate the children to go to school every day giving them the fair chance to finish school and graduate and achieve their dreams in the future which could very well include uplifting their respective families from poverty.

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‍Urban Gardening Support 

DepEd’s Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) aims to promote food security in schools and communities. It also addresses malnutrition and encourages vegetable production and consumption among school children. 

Through this feeding program, Epson Precision will also be able to support the school's existing urban vegetable gardens. The harvested crops from the garden will be used to sustain the feeding program, using the crops as fresh ingredients for the meals to be served to the pupils, or distributed to the families of the pupil-beneficiaries so they can be served with nutritious meals in their homes. This activity will be the center of the program sustainability, ensuring that the pupil-beneficiaries will  learn to eat vegetables and will continue to do so even after the program, and pupil-beneficiaries will be able to receive nutritious meals in their homes.

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Corporate Citizenship 

Aligned with its sustainability commitment, Epson Precision(Philippines), Inc. has increased its efforts on putting health and sustainability as the focus for its community engagement and corporate social responsibility efforts. 

“Our company, EPSON, is a printer and projector manufacturer located in Lima Technology Center here in Lipa for about 30 years. We have learned that some of our employees lived here and even graduated from this school and we are very grateful to visit the school and have actual interaction with the kids. Epson is one with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: we support to achieve ZERO HUNGER, especially for children. That is why we came up with the Feeding program. I hope the 100 pupils from grades 4, 5,and 6 will greatly benefit physically and mentally to improve their school attendance as well as their grades in academics,” said Yushi Irie, Epson Precision (Philippines), Inc. President.