At least 107 “severely wasted” secondary students from Anislag National High School (ANHS) in Daraga, Albay will benefit from a four-month-long feeding program that will start this month.

In an interview on Friday, Hela Rezalie M. Nimo, ANHS program coordinator, said the Augmenting School Performance Indicators as Result of Education (ASPIRE) – Feeding for Learning program aims to improve the nutritional status and educational performance in numeracy and literacy skills of the beneficiaries.

“From Monday to Thursday, the recipients from grades 7 to 12 will receive nutritional snacks during recess. We don’t want them to feel that they are ‘different’ that’s why a specific classroom turned into ASPIRE Cafe will be used by the students,” Nimo said.

The beneficiaries are from 10 barangays of Daraga that are enrolled at the ANHS.

She said the funding for the program was made possible through a partnership between Ang Probinsiyano Party-List and ANHS, which included improvements to the room to be used, and enhancements to the quality and variety of the meals to be served.

She said the ANHS is very thankful to Ang Probinsiyano Party-List headed by Rep. Alfred Delos Santos for the support and dedication to improving the area.

“In providing the students with a more enjoyable and satisfying place to dine, hindi nila ramdam na nasa feeding program lang sila (they don’t feel that they are in a feeding program),” Nimo said.

In a separate interview, Ang Probinsiyano Party-List national coordinator Alfred Nimo said they are supporting projects that will provide quality life to every probinsiyano (provincial folk) in the country.

“This is one of our projects in combating malnutrition. This is unique since this is for secondary students. The government is already allocating programs and funds for elementary students, that’s why we also augmented funds for this project,” he said. (PNA)