The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunmedia.net

THE National School Breakfast Pilot Programme will expand nationwide in the upcoming academic year, according to Minister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin.

The programme provides free breakfasts to students in public schools across the country. The Davis administration has said the initiative seeks to ensure no child goes hungry, allowing them to focus and learn effectively in school.

Mrs Hanna Martin told reporters this week that the programme’s expansion will include schools on the Family Islands, as well as primary and comprehensive schools.

“Training will begin very shortly and some I believe already is underway,” she said during a school repairs tour.

“The Ministry of Health is involved in how the menu is developed, the combination of values of food. It’s a very carefully thought-out project, and it’s going to expand in a few weeks.”

She also noted that the programme is producing positive results, with more students attending school without the concern of missing meals. She said officials search indicates a correlation between higher attendance and the breakfast programme.

In April, the programme expanded to five schools in New Providence: CW Sawyer Primary School, Stephen Dillet Primary School, Woodcock Primary School, Yellow Elder Primary School, and EP Roberts Primary School. The expansion provided 2,300 students within these schools free breakfast.

In October 2023, the $1m National Breakfast School programme officially launched in New Providence with four primary schools and expanded to four Family Island primary schools in November 2023. Mrs Hanna-Martin said participant schools in New Providence student attendance at the time had increased by 3.9 per cent during the initial months of the programme. Family Island schools recorded an increase of 7.2 per cent in attendance, she said.

After its launch last year, officials defended the programme after online criticism of photographs of the food, saying that the nutritional value of the meals had been evaluated.