Breakfast for Kindergarten schoolgirls in Pakistan

After a long summer break of nearly two months, the hustle bustle of school resumed in July. As the schools continued to serve nutritious local meals to their little elementary school students they observed the adjustment to the back-to-school routine had brought challenges with it.

At Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government Girls School (KPS) it was noticed students of Kindergarten were taking longer than usual to complete their meals due to their recent change in waking up time. Not to be daunted, the school management in conjunction with the breakfast cook and ECE (Early Childhood Education) teachers and In-charge, decided to serve breakfast an hour later. Instead of beginning the day with breakfast, Kindergarten students now complete their Circle Time in class and then proceeded to the Breakfast room. The results of this change has completely surpassed expectations! Students who were previously unable to finish their breakfast were now gobbling it up and the average time taken to complete a meal fell! In other amazing news, the program was expanded to provide Breakfast for our 33 students of Nursery too!

July also marked the beginning of another academic year which brought new admissions in Kindergarten at SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School (SMB). It has been observed previously that students show resistance towards eating fruits. SMB held a Fruit Day Celebration filled with fun activities to encourage our new tots and old to enjoy fruits with the same enthusiasm as other foods! Parents of students also participated actively in the celebration, since healthy eating habits at home are a necessary reinforcement to the habits being developed in the program. The day started with performances by few of the students playing various seasonal fruits like mangoes, pears, peaches and apricots and grapes. During this, the students recited poems and songs about the fruits they were representing. Later, all students took part in a fruit coloring activity where they learnt about more fruits and made wristbands with the help of their parents. The day ended with all students getting served by their parents with seasonal fruits and fresh yogurt while their teachers explained the nutritional value of each fruit.

What’s on the Menu?

During this quarter, SMB’s and KPS’ students were served boiled eggs, omelets, seasonal fruits with yogurts, oats with yogurt and mild spices, porridge, aloo parathas (flatbreads made with whole wheat and stuffed with potatoes), chickpeas and lentils. Milk is a regular feature of the meal, along with stewed vegetables such as spinach, sweet potatoes, lady fingers, carrots, and bottle gourd. Fruits are also given in the form of shakes to satisfy the picky eaters. All effort is made to ensure processed foods are eliminated such as using dates as a sweetener instead of sugar and getting rid of store-bought bread. The focus is to provide a healthy balanced meal without compromising on taste.

About the Program

Zindagi Trust’s Breakfast Program aims to provide students with a nutritious locally sourced meal. At KPS, 250 students of Nursery, Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 were served. SMB served 300 students of Kindergarten only due to its much larger student body. The program seeks to integrate and build awareness of health, nutrition and environment among our young students. Our vision for the breakfast program is about inculcating healthy living habits in our students and we like to take this value beyond the breakfast room. We do not see the breakfast program in isolation from the rest of a students' intellectual development. As such, for long term impact, we have involved the school nurse, the gardeners, science teachers, canteen management and parents in the process of implementing the breakfast program.

Please consider making a donation to our breakfast program to continue supporting nutritious meals for children in Pakistan’s public schools!

Links:

• More information about the Breakfast Program
• About the organization