May 10, 2024

Guidelines on the Implementation of the Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Basic

Education Institutions 2024

 BACKGROUND

Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act recognizes the critical role of
school communities in enabling healthy behaviors within their jurisdiction by
designating all schools under the supervision of the Department of Education
(DepEd) as healthy settings. In support of this mandate to reframe schools as
strategic settings for health promotion and service delivery, the Department of Health
(DOH), in partnership with national education agencies including Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Commission on Higher Education
(CHED), Legal Education Board (LEB), Technical Education And Skills Development
Authority (TESDA), and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
implement Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2022-0001, or “Guidelines on
Healthy Settings Framework in Healthy Learning Institution.”

The JAO states that DepEd, in coordination with the DOH, shall develop and
maintain a recognition or compliance system for individual institutions to be
recognized as healthy learning institutions. To operationalize this, the DOH shall
confer the “Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Basic Education Institutions 2024” to
recognize exemplary schools that meet the standards of a healthy learning
institution.

 OBJECTIVES

This Department Circular aims to support the development of Healthy Learning

Institutions (HLI) among basic education institutions (BEIs) by providing guidelines
on the conduct of Healthy Learning Institutions awarding activities.

The objectives of the Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Basic Education Institutions 2024
are the following:
To recognize basic education institutions that meet the standards for Healthy
Learning Institutions;

1. To initiate Healthy Learning Institution certification among BEIs; and,

2. To incentivize local government units’ (LGUs) investment in school health
initiatives.

 SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The awarding mechanisms and incentives stipulated in this Department Circular

shall be made applicable to all basic education institutions, including kindergartens,
elementary schools, and secondary or high schools, whether public or private.
  GENERAL GUIDELINES
1. Schools may submit documents for certification as a Healthy Learning
Institution to local DepEd offices on a rolling basis, consistent with the OK sa
DepEd – Healthy Learning Institutions (OKD-HLI) Implementing Guidelines;
2. To qualify for recognition, school heads or other designated school
representatives shall submit application documents to their regional DOH and
DepEd offices by June 30, 2024;
3. Once received, DOH and DepEd regional offices shall conduct validation of
the schools eligible to be certified and recognized;
4. The DOH Regional Office shall then conduct a regional HLI awarding
ceremony to recognize all certified Healthy Schools and Last-Mile Elementary
Schools;
5. The Centers for Health and Development (CHDs) shall transmit the list of
awardees and score sheets to the DOH Central Office once the final list of
awardees is available;
6. The list of awardees shall be reviewed by the DOH and DepEd Central
Offices for consideration as finalists in a National Awarding ceremony.

The process flow for the awarding is illustrated in Annex A.

 SPECIFIC GUIDELINE

 NATIONAL AWARDING GUIDELINES

 Award Categories for the National Awarding

The national awards categories shall include the following:

1. Healthy Schools Category – This category recognizes the top 3 public or

private grade schools and high schools per region that garnered the highest
scores per region on the Self-Appraisal Checklist (SAC).\
2. Last Mile Category – This category recognizes the top 3 Last Mile
Elementary Schools (LMEs) and High Schools (LMHs) per region that
garnered the highest scores on the activity report.
 Criteria for the National Awarding

The winners from the regional awards shall be automatically entered in a

shortlist for the HLI national awards, or the Healthy Pilipinas Awards for
Basic Education Institutions 2024, according to the following selection
criteria:
Number of Schools
Criteria for Eligibility to the per Region to be Cash Incentive per
Category
National Awards Recognized In the School
National Awards
Healthy Schools Having the top highest scores in
3 PhP 200,000
Category the Self-Appraisal Checklist
Last Mile Having the top highest scores in
3 PhP 100,000
Category the Last Mile category

The national awarding shall provide cash incentives ranging from P100,000 to
P200,000 per school. The said incentives are intended to be used by the schools to
invest in programs, projects, or activities to maintain or improve their status as
Healthy Learning Institutions. Regional offices shall conduct follow-up monitoring
visits one year following the school’s receipt of the cash incentives to monitor the
utilization of said funds, consistent with existing budgeting, accounting and auditing
rules and regulations.

Application Procedures for the National Awarding

1. The pool of applicants to the national awarding shall come from the winners
list of the regional awards, to be endorsed by the CHDs and DepEd ROs.
There shall be no individual applications to the national awarding.
2. From the list endorsed by the CHDs, the DOH HPB and DepEd BLSS shall
select the top-scoring school of each region under the Healthy Schools
Category and Last Mile Category to be recognized in the national awards.
3. In the event of a tie, the Sub-Technical Working Group on Childhood and
Adolescence shall deliberate and create further criteria as necessary to
determine the winner.
4. The winners shall be notified at least 1 month prior to the national awards.

 REGIONAL AWARDING GUIDELINES

 Award Categories for the Regional Awarding

All CHDs including BARMM shall conduct a regional Healthy Learning Institutions
Awarding, ideally prior to the start of the school year 2024-2025. For uniformity with
the national awarding, the regional awards shall be based on these categories:

1. Healthy Schools Category – This category recognizes public or private

grade schools and high schools that meet the standards for HLIs as listed in
the Self-Appraisal Checklist (SAC) in Annex B. This category is further
subdivided into:
1. Satisfactory
2. Very Satisfactory
3. Outstanding
4. Best Practices

2. Last Mile Category – This category recognizes Last Mile Elementary Schools
(LMEs) and High Schools (LMHs) with exemplary health promotion efforts,
including the last mile school community members who actively advocate for
and lead the implementation of school health activities. The category is further
subdivided into:
1. Outstanding Last Mile School
2. Outstanding Last Mile HLI Champions
3. Best Practices
 Criteria for the Regional Awarding

For each category, the CHDs shall coordinate with their DepEd counterparts for joint
scoring (i.e. both agencies follow the recommended criteria for scoring, with the final
score being the average from both agencies). The winners of the regional awarding
shall receive plaques and certificates.

 Healthy Schools Category – Scoring shall be based on the school’s score in

the Self-Appraisal Checklist, as shown in Annex B. This category is also open
 to last mile schools who are interested in applying. The scoring mechanism is
as follows:
1.
1. Satisfactory – The school meets 65%-80% of standards in all pillars.
2. Very Satisfactory – The school meets 81%-95% of standards in all
pillars
3. Outstanding – The school meets 96-100% of standards in all pillars.
4. Best Practices Awards – Projects, activities, or programs shall be
awarded following the following subcategories of the 6 Pillars of a
Health-Promoting Schools Framework, namely:
 Healthy School Policy
 Physical School Environment
 Social School Environment
 Health Skills and Education
 Links with Community
 Access to Healthcare

Each pillar may have more than one winner. The basis of this category is the
school’s HLI activity report, the template of which is attached in Annex C. Best
Practices per pillar are scored according to the following criteria:

Criteria Description
40% The school should be able to demonstrate the impact and outcomes of H
such as improved student health literacy and behavior, academic perform
Impact reduced absenteeism, and increased parent and community engagemen
30% The intervention is designed and implemented in a way that addresses t
needs, challenges, or demands of the school, learners, or the surroundin
Responsiveness community.
The project or activity will contribute to making schools health-promoting
20% achieving desired health outcomes
Sustainability of
projects and activities i.e. Improvements in mental health, CSE/ARH, or immunization knowle
and practices
10%
Introduces something new or make improvements to existing interventio
Uniqueness services, and has demonstrated overcoming obstacles in implementation
or innovativeness

Last Mile Category

 Outstanding Last Mile School – Scoring shall be based on the school’s HLI
activity report, the template of which is attached in Annex C.
Criteria Description
40%
As determined by comparison of projects
activities
Contribution to achievement of HLI provincial- and/or
against province-level goals
school-level goals
30% Shows sustainability through school polic
into annual implementation plan, and wi
Sustainability of projects and activities documented sustainability of advocacies
 adoption of community
members
20%
The activities implemented cover the six
of a health-promoting school
Completeness of activities across the six pillars
10% Uses emerging technology, or uses
old technology
but with a novel strategy, and has
Innovativeness and creativity of projects and
demonstrated overcoming obstacles in
activities implementation

1. Last Mile Category – Last Mile HLI Champion – This individual shall be
jointly selected by the CHD and DepEd Regional Office based on the
following description:
Criteria Description
This represents a person who is a strong advocate for health
promotion,
actively championing to help transform their schools to become
Last Mile Champion/s healthy
learning institutions. This does not necessarily have to be a
school head,
but could be any personnel from the school.

Last Mile Category – Best Practices Award – The scoring for this sub-category,
which shall be exclusively for Last Mile Schools only, shall be the same as the
Healthy Schools – Best Practices Award in item [Link] above. Similarly, there shall
be 6 sub-categories corresponding to the 6 Pillars of a Health-Promoting Schools
Framework, namely:
Healthy School Policy

 Physical School Environment

 Social School Environment
 Health Skills and Education
 Links with Community
 Access to Healthcare

 Application Procedures

1. All public and private grade schools and high schools shall be eligible to apply
for the Regional Healthy Learning Institutions Awards 2024.
2. There shall be only one application per campus, i.e. schools that offer
elementary and secondary classes within the same campus shall be
considered under one application. Likewise, schools with elementary and
secondary classes in separate campuses shall submit separate applications.
3. Interested schools shall accomplish the online registration form
at [Link]/HLIAwardsREGFORM with the full name and contact information of
an authorized representative of the school.
4. Schools must indicate in the above registration form the award category they
are interested in applying for. Schools may apply for more than one (1)
category when applicable (e.g. private schools may not be allowed to apply
 for the “Last Mile Category” but may apply for “Healthy Schools Category” and
“Best Practices”).
5. To complete the application, schools must submit the completed Self-
Appraisal Checklist and Activity Report (accessible
at [Link] by uploading to the registration link
([Link]/HLIAwardsREGFORM) on or before June 30, 2024, 11:59 PM.
6. For best practices, schools shall submit applications based on their own
original work, a health promotion project or program implemented between
2022-2023 within the area of their jurisdiction. Entries whose dates of
implementation are outside of the aforementioned time period shall not be
eligible.
7. School applications shall not be in any way, directly or indirectly, funded or
supported by industries whose interests, goals, and objectives contradict
those of the DOH or the public health sector. The applications shall comply
with the CSC-DOH JMC 2010-001 on the Protection of the Bureaucracy
Against Tobacco Industry Interference and Executive Order 51 or the Milk
Code. Applications violative of these policies shall be automatically
disqualified.
8. Applications shall not contain any third-party materials and/or content that
does not have permission for use, nor materials which may be inappropriate,
promoting of dangerous behavior, obscene, defamatory, distasteful, offensive,
or in breach of any legislation or regulations, or in breach of confidentiality
obligations owed by the school to third parties.
1. TIMELINE OF ACTIVITIES
Date Activity
March-April 2024 Call for Entries
March – May 2024 Submission Period
June 30, 2024 Deadline of Submissions
May – June 2024 Entry Verification Period
June 2024 Finalization of Regional Winners
July 2024 Regional Awarding
August 2024 Transmittal of Results to Central Office
October 2024 DOH and DepEd Central Office Deliberation
November 2024 National Awarding

VII. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Health Promotion Bureau shall:

1. Lead the implementation of Healthy Pilipinas Awards for Basic Education

Institutions 2024;
2. Produce the necessary communication and advocacy materials for posting on
official DOH social media platforms;
3. Disseminate and communicate all materials for promotion of the event; and
4. Validate, rate, and declare the winners of the Healthy Pilipinas Awards for
Basic Education Institutions

The Centers for Health Development shall:

1. Lead the implementation of the Regional Awards for Healthy Learning

Institutions 2024;
2. Actively promote the awards to their DepEd counterparts and LGUs in their
jurisdiction;
 3. Receive, process, and validate entries together with DepEd counterparts
4. Ensure that at least one LGU in their area of jurisdiction will be able to submit
their application per award category.
5. Monitor the utilization of the awarding funds one year after disbursement of
the cash incentive.

The Local Government Units shall:

1. Actively promote the Awards to their constituents, particularly in the basic

education sector, and encourage participation of school heads

ANNEX A. Process Flow for the Healthy Learning Institutions Awarding

ANNEX B. Oplan Kalusugan sa DepEd-Healthy Learning Institutions

Self-Appraisal Checklist

V2 (a.o. SY 2024 – 2025)

(Available online through: [Link]

Policy Bases for OKD-HLI Standards and Indicators

 1.1 Republic Act 11037

 1.2 DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017 – Implementation of the Healthy Food and Beverage
Choices in Schools and DepEd Offices
 1.3 DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2007 – Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Operation
and Management of School Canteens in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
 1.4 DepEd Order No. 34 s. 2019 – Revised Physical Fitness Tests Manual
 1.5 DepEd Order No. 060, s. 2021 – Guidelines on Galaw Pilipinas: The DepEd National
Calisthenics Exercise Program
 1.6 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016 – the Policy and Guidelines for the Comprehensive
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools (WINS) Program
 1.7 DepEd Memorandum No. 82, s. 2015 – the Guidelines on the Implementation of
School-Based Immunization Program
 1.8 DepEd Memorandum No. 28, s. 2007 – the Implementation of the Mass Deworming
Program in All Public Elementary Schools Nationwide
 1.9 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016 or the Policy and Guidelines on Comprehensive
Tobacco Control; and DepEd Memorandum No. 111, s. 2019 or the Prohibiting the Use
of E-Cigarettes and Other Electronic Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Delivery System and
Reiterating the Absolute Tobacco Smoking Ban in Schools and DepEd Office
 1.10 DepEd Order No. 030, s. 2018 or the Preventive Drug Education Program (PDEP)
Policy for Curriculum and Instruction
 1.12 DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2018 or the Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
 1.13 DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2013 or the Implementing Rules and Regulations of
Republic Act No. 10627 Otherwise Known as the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013
 1.14 DepEd Order No. 40 s. 2012 or the DepEd Child Protection Policy
 1.15 DepEd Order No. 033, s. 2021 or the School-based Disaster Preparedness and
Response Measures for Tropical Cyclones, Flooding, and Other Weather-Related
Disturbances and Calamities
 2.1 DepEd Order No. 5 s 2014
 2.3 DepEd’s National Guidelines for WASH in Schools: Three Star Approach; DepEd
Order No. 10, s. 2016
 2.5 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016; DepEd Memorandum No. 111, s. 2019; DepEd Order
No. 033, s. 2021;
 2.6 DepEd Order No. 64, s. 2017, DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2021, other DPWH-DepEd
Standard Designs
 2.7 DepEd Order No. 033, s. 2021
 2.8 DepEd’s National Guidelines for WASH in Schools: Three Star Approach
 2.9 DepEd Order No. 5, s. 2014
 2.12 DepEd Order No. 44, s. 2021
 3.1 Enclosure No. 3 to DepEd Order No. 034, s. 2022
 3.2 DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2005; DepEd Order No. 45, s. 2007
 3.3 DepEd Order No. 035, s. 2016
 3.4 DepEd Order No. 035, s. 2016
 3.6 DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2004
 3.7 DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2004
 3.8 DepEd Memorandum No. 392, s. 2010
 3.9.1 DepEd Order No. 023, s. 2022
 3.10.1-2 DepEd Order No. 044, s. 2021
 4.1.1 RA 10028 and its IRR
 4.1.2 DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017
 4.1.3 RA 9729
 4.1.4 RA 9003
 4.1.5 RA 9211
 4.1.6 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016
 4.1.7 DepEd Memorandum No. 111, s. 2019
 4.1.8 RA 11036
 4.1.9 DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2018
 4.2.1 DepEd Order No. 053, s. 2022
 4.2.2 DepEd Order No. 053, s. 2022
 4.2.3 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 4.2.4 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 4.2.5. DepEd Order No. 33, s. 2008, DepEd Order No. 5, s. 2014
 4.13.1 DepEd Order No. 014, s. 2020
 4.13.2 DepEd Order No. 014, s. 2020
 4.14.1 RA 10871, and DepEd Order N033, s. 2021
 5.1. DepEd Order 026, s. 2022
 5.2.1 DepEd Order No. 013, s. 2022, Pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 603, s. 1974
 5.4.1. DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017
 5.4.4 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016
 5.4.5 DepEd Order No. 014, s. 2020
 5.4.7 DepEd Order No. 031 s. 2018
 5.4.8 DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2013
 5.5.1 DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017
 5.5.2 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 5.5.3 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 5.5.4 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016
 5.5.5 DepEd Memorandum No. 111, s. 2019
 5.5.6 DepEd Order No. 033, s. 2021
 5.5.7 DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2013
 5.5.10 DOTr-DPWH-DILG JMC 2018-001
 5.5.11 DepEd Order No. 023, s. 2022
 6.1. RA 11358
 6.1.4 DepEd Order No. 044, s. 2021
 6.2. DepEd Memorandum No. 82, s. 2015 or the Guidelines on the Implementation of
School-Based Immunization Program, which adopts/supports the DOH DM 2015-0238
 6.3.1 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 6.3.2 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 6.3.4 DepEd Order No. 10, s. 2016
 6.3.5 DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016
 6.5 DepEd Order No. 014, s. 2020
 6.6 DepEd Memorandum No. 036, s. 2019
 6.9.3 DepEd Order No. 4

ANNEX C.
  Activity Report Template
 (Available online through: [Link]

ANNEX D.

DOH and DepEd Regional Offices Scoring Sheet Template

 Healthy Schools
Self-Appraisal Checklist Rating
Average Score in % (Satisfactory / Very Satisfactory / Outstanding)
School 1
School 2
School …

 Outstanding Last Mile School

(10%)
(40%)
(25%) (25%)
Completeness of
Total
Contribution to
Innovativeness Sustainability
achievement of HLI goals activities across 6
pillars
School 1
School 2
School
…
 Best HLI Practice
(30%) (30%) (20%) (20%)
School Title Total
Innovativeness Impact Responsiveness Sustainability
School 1 Title of submission 1

Submission 2

Submission 1
School 2 Submission 2
Submission 3
School 3 Submission 1
School x