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The DSWD Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program will launch a new campaign dubbed as Bata: Balik Eskwela (BBE) that aims to encourage children beneficiaries to enroll and maintain their attendance to school.

This campaign is anchored on the mandate of the program to keep children healthy and in school.

The BBE Campaign will be launched in partnership with the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela 2019 on the following dates: May 20 in Kumalarang, Zamboanga del Sur, May 23 in Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay, May 24 in Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte, and June 03 in Barangay Sam Roque, Zamboanga City.

Moreover, this endeavor aims to address the issue on children who are consistently not attending school as monitored by the program.

“Isa ako sa mga pumunta noong nagkaroon ng orientation tungkol sa BBE. Doon ko nalaman na puede pala akong mag-aral sa Alternative Learning System kaya ngayong pasukan mag-eenroll na ako ulit,” Sitti Norhaya Madjid, Pantawid Pamilya monitored child in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.

In a compliance analysis as of November 2018, the department has identified 1,125,293 children beneficiaries nationwide who were not attending school out of the overall 7,954,905 children (3-18 years old) beneficiaries.

As of to date, there is a total of 413,047 eligible Pantawid children in the entire Region IX of which 370,441 are monitored by the program.

Pantawid Pamilya is a social protection program of the national government that invests in the health and education of poor households primarily of children aged 0-18 and pregnant women. Program beneficiaries receive cash grants as they comply with the program conditions applicable to their households. The conditions are: pregnant women must avail pre and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional; parents must attend Family Development Sessions (FDS); 0-5 years old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; 6-14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year; and children beneficiaries (0-18 years old) must enroll in school and maintain a class attendance of at least 85% per month. As of May 2018, there are 4.39 million active households in the program nationwide.