To recognize the schools that exerted extra effort in implementing the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) and pursue its advocacy, the Department of Agriculture Caraga conducted the 2015 GPP Best Schools Implementers Awarding Ceremony last July 13 in Butuan City.

GPP is a school vegetable gardening project that aims to address hunger and malnutrition problem. It is a partnership program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

The program aims to encourage school children to engage in simple food production activities as well as to promote vegetable consumption.

DA Regional Technical Director Nicandro Navia said that GPP should be sustained because through this program good values are instilled to the students. He also said that food security is a concern of everybody so everybody should work together for food production.

DepEd Caraga Assistant Regional Director Ramir Uytico expressed gratitude to the Department of Agriculture for partnering with DepEd in implementing this program and posed a challenge to the GPP stakeholders.

“The challenge is for us to heighten the implementation of the program so that it does not end with the awarding ceremony only, but we have to go deeper for the success and sustainability of the program,” Uytico said.

The GPP Best Schools Implementers has five categories namely the Central Schools, Non-Central, Urban, Rural, and Multi-Grade. The top three winners were chosen from among the entries of the twelve Schools Division of the region. The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners each received a cash prize of P50,000, P30,000, and P10,000, respectively.

Special awards were also given to top three schools whose school gardens showcased innovations and were well established and cared for.

School Head Gideon Badic of Mt. Olive Elementary School, the three-time consecutive first-place winner for the Non-Central School category, shared that GPP has really made a huge impact in their school.

“Our school’s performance indicators increased. In 2012, we had 12 severely malnourished students, this gradually decreased until in 2015 we were down to zero. Our number of enrollees, on the other hand, increased and our National Achievement Test Rating improved from 82 in 2012 to 89 in 2015,” Badic said.

He also credits the support of the community in their successful implementation of the GPP. “The parents and local officials saw the good that the program brought especially in the health and values of not just the children but everyone in the community so they eventually gave their all-out support,” he added.

DA congratulates the following winners for the five categories:

Central category
1^st place – Alegria Central Elementary School –  Alegria, Surigao del Norte
2^nd place – Bislig Central Elementary School – Bislig City
3^rd place – Mat-I Central Elementary School – Surigao City

Non-Central
1^st place – Mt. Olive Elementary School – Bayugan City
2^nd place – Bagnan Elementary School – Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur
3^rd place – Cahayagan Elementary School – Carmen, Agusan del Norte

Urban category
1^st place – Bayugan Comprehensive High School – Bayugan City
2^nd place – Dapa National High School – Dapa, Surigao del Norte
3^rd place – Veruela National High School – Veruela, Agusan del Sur

Rural category

1^st place – RE Ecleo National High School – Cagdianao, Province of Dinagat Island
2^nd place – Carpenito Integrated School – Tagbina, Surigao del Sur
3^rd place – Sta. Irene National High School – Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur

Multi-Grade
1^st place – Ima Elementary School – Sison, Surigao del Norte
2^nd place – Puting Buhangin Elementary School – Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur
3^rd place – New Demar Elementary School – Bayugan City

Special Awards
1^st place –  Bayugan Comprehensive High School – Bayugan City
2^nd place –  Carmen National High School – Carmen, Surigao del Sur
3^rd place –  Sayak Central Elementary School – Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte