The National School Breakfast Pilot Programme Expands to the Family Islands
Hundreds of primary school students in our Family Islands started their morning with something new today: breakfast at school.
There were lots of smiles as students at Cherokee Sound Primary in Abaco, Old Bight Primary in Cat Island, Rolleville Primary in Exuma, and Holmes Rock Primary in Grand Bahama were served free hot breakfast, marking an expansion of the National School Breakfast Pilot Programme (NSBPP).
The 275 students will receive free breakfast throughout the school year, as part of a larger pilot initiative aimed at reducing inflationary cost-of-living pressures on Bahamian families, and improving the nutrition, attendance, and academic performance of our children.
The Davis administration’s new school breakfast programme was first launched on the 2nd of October in New Providence. Today’s second-phase expansion to Grand Bahama and the Family Islands means that 2,000 students will now be served hot breakfast on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. They can choose from seven breakfast choices, which reflect nutritional recommendations for children.
In the next phase of NSBPP, the programme will be expanded further, in additional public primary schools nationwide.
The Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Education are committed to helping all Bahamian students thrive. The school breakfast programme joins post-pandemic initiatives such as Find Every Child and Renaissance Learning Recovery Assessment. Attendance rates have improved from under 50% for approximately 7,000 students in the 2021-2022 school year, to an average of 94%.
