SCOTIABANK will, over the next two years, undertake changes to its school breakfast programme, as part of efforts to determine improvements over the long term.

“Because Scotiabank support of the breakfast-feeding programme is heavily based on the link between nutrition and academics, we want to ensure that the content of each meal delivers the right amount of vitamins and minerals needed,” said Debbie Clue, the bank’s manager for corporate social responsibility, in a release to the media.

“As such, we will be undertaking an initiative to further test the exact levels of specific minerals in the students and determine how we can enhance the programme even more to ensure the students perform at the optimal level,” she added.

The Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation introduced the breakfast-feeding programme in 2003, having regard to the many poor families across inner-city and rural areas who are unable to afford a proper breakfast for their children, thus putting their children’s education and future at risk.

“The link between good nutrition and learning is undeniable. Research has shown that children who regularly ate breakfast had better test scores, better behaviour, and were less hyperactive than children who skipped breakfast,” said Clue. “We know that many parents in these neighbourhoods are unable to give their children a balanced breakfast before they go off to school and that’s where we step in with our support. The foundation funds the provision of a balanced breakfast which includes items from every major food group.”

Getting this first cooked meal for the day has proven to be crucial for the more than 600 students in the five primary schools from rural and inner-city communities who are enrolled in the programme.

“In fact, for many students enrolled in the programme this is the only sure cooked meal they have for the day as their parents can’t provide lunch monies to purchase a meal during the day nor can they bank on having a cooked meal after school,” said Cecile Palmer, principal of Holy Family Primary in Central Kingston.

“The situation that our students face is really discouraging and distressing to us as teachers. It severely limits the children’s performance in school. The students appear lethargic, unfocused, disruptive and generally distracted in class when they are hungry. We can see a remarkable difference in their academic performance when these needy students get enrolled in the breakfast-feeding programme and are able to get a square meal in the morning,” added the principal, who has been at the school for over 20 years.

Schools currently benefiting from the programme, which costs Scotia $2 million annually, have reported that many students move up by at least three grades in a term after being in the programme.

“Holy Family has a grade one learning profile test which we administer to incoming students. Many of them average at about 40 per cent to 45 per cent on their first sitting. We discovered that it was linked to the fact that they came to school hungry, lacking energy and could not pay much attention in classes,” said Palmer. “They even begin to ‘act out’ at times. After incorporating them in the breakfast-feeding programme for six to eight months, we see these same students moving up to grades 80 per cent and exhibiting much improved behavioural practices,” she added.