Baguio City provides free meals to students studying in colleges and universities

Baguio City, Philippines – Studying with an empty stomach is surely a struggle, and Baguio City LGU has decided to help students with their free meals ordinance.

College or university students in the city no longer have to go to school hungry as they have a choice of their free breakfast or not.

This is made possible through the signing of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong of City Ordinance No. 96, series of 2023, allowing for the provision of meals to individuals enrolled in higher education institutions in the city without charge.

According to the Baguio City Public Information Office, the ordinance was passed to complement government initiatives to reduce or eradicate student hunger. Likewise, this is also to discourage them from ‘disadvantageous, illicit, and illegal activities for alternative sources of income while promoting proper health and nutrition to college students’.

Studies have indicated that learning on an empty stomach affects the academic performance of a student. Center for Disease Control, in fact, cited that hunger is associated with lower grades, higher rates of absenteeism, repeating a grade, and inability to focus.

With the measure, the City LGU through the CSWDO general fund will appropriate P2,640,000 for the cause. The ordinance stressed that the said budget may be increased, but it should not be decreased to its current amount.

The Commission on Higher Education Cordillera praised the City LGU for this measure saying, “CHED CAR lauds Baguio City’s Ordinance No. 96, series of 2023, providing free meals to the city’s youth enrolled in the different higher educational institutions (HEIs) in the Summer Capital.”

LISTEN TO STATION 1 RADIO: CLICK ME

OTHER NEWS 

17 new Kalinga soldiers graduates from Candidate Soldier Course, now to serve the military

Follow Guru Press Cordillera  on Facebook for more News and Information