THE first phase of the Ministry of Education’s free breakfast programme, involving 100 schools nationwide, will cost the government RM22 million, the ministry said today.

The programme begins on January 20, 2020, and will use the Grab ‘n’ Go concept, which will feature nutritious dairy products, drinks and snacks such as bread, cereals, biscuits, kuih, sandwiches, fruit or boiled eggs.

In a statement today, the ministry said the schools were selected based on the high proportion of students belonging to the Bottom 40 (B40) group.

The programme covers all kinds of schools, including Chinese and Tamil schools across the country.

The first phase of the programme will also involve 37,000 students and 1,600 teachers on duty.

The selection was also based on the nationwide Rancangan Makanan Tambahan programme.

“The ministry has also designated a food science officer for each district to provide advice on nutrition intake to the schools involved,” it said.

“However, parents’ permission will be required while obtaining information on the pupil’s state of health, for example if the child is allergic to certain foods, to enable an alternative meal to be prepared,” it added.

The ministry is looking to expand the programme to all 7,776 primary schools nationwide, which could benefit 2.7million pupils.

However, this will also depend on the capacity of and funding provided to the school canteens.

The ministry said it will monitor the impact of the programme from time to time with the co-operation of the Ministry of Health, to ensure that pupils are being fed good quality meals.

This also confirms The Malaysian Insight’s report earlier today that the free breakfast programme for students will be introduced in 100 selected primary schools nationwide by the end of January. – December 27, 2019.