Lack of dental health care affects performance among public school pupils nationwide, Gordon says

Majority of Filipino public school pupils have dental caries that affect their performance in school, Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today said as he reiterated his call for support to his text revenue bill that is expected to generate P73 billion enough to bankroll the financial requirements in health and education infrastructures.

Citing government statistics, Gordon said 97 percent of the country's school children have dental caries or cavities, which significantly affect students' performance in school and may eventually lead to a poor achievement rate.

"If our students are experiencing toothache, how can they concentrate in school? Instead of listening to the teacher's lesson, their focus would be on the pain they feel. About 97 percent of students have tooth decay or cavities. That's something we need to address," he said.

Gordon said this is just one of the reasons why he wants the quick passage of Senate Bill 2402, also known as the Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP) bill, which aims to improve not only the education system but also the country's school health profile.

He noted that the country's health personnel-student ratio is at one medical officer is to 80,000 students; one school dentist is to 20,000 students; and one school nurse is to 5,000 students.

Government figures also show a shortage in the Department of Education's (DepEd) health manpower with only 154 medical officers, 617 school dentists, 3,254 school nurses, 570 dental aides, and 32 nutritionists-dietitians for all public school students nationwide.

"We do not only need teachers in school; we also need nurses, dentists and other health officers to ensure that even at school, our children's health concerns are being attended to," Gordon said.

The Senator explained that when the HEAP bill is passed into law, telecommunications companies would be mandated to remit 50 percent of their net revenues from local text messages, which will help augment government resources to finance needed education and health infrastructures.

Supposing there are 400 million text messages sent per day at P1.00 for every text message, and half of the earnings, or P200 million a day, are given to the HEAP Fund, it would be enough to support programs to improve the country's education and health system.

Aside from funding backlogs in education infrastructures, Gordon said the HEAP Fund will also be used to upgrade school clinics, hire the needed health officers, establish a feeding program for public elementary schools, and provide for regular vaccination and dental check-up programs.