Oranje School Principal White (third left), Prakash Menghani of Lucky Cosmetics (fourth left) and Rotary Sunrise President Prakash Dialani (centre) holding the signed MoU, surrounded by Rotary Sunrise members.
PHILIPSBURG--Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise, in partnership with beauty store Lucky Cosmetics, has started its breakfast programme at Oranje School that seeks to serve nutritious breakfasts to the school’s pupils.
“The purpose of the breakfast programme is not to replace parents’/guardians’ role as a provider, but to assist schools with promoting healthy nutritional habits and to increase the academic performance of students.
“Since eating breakfast increases a child’s ability to learn, improves behaviour and decreases the risk of being overweight, since 2012 the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise launched breakfast programmes in various schools. To date, more than 250 children attending four public schools continue to benefit from the programme.
“The objective of the programme is to increase the probability of students eating a nutritious breakfast in the morning and, in turn, improve their learning,” said the club in a press release on Thursday
Rotary Sunrise President Prakash “Peter” Dialani said the breakfast programme is very essential for pupils’ well-being.
“Very often children attend school without having a proper breakfast and this in turn can impact their academic performance. Due to financial burdens some parents cannot afford to provide their child with a healthy meal and therefore they resort to purchasing ‘junk food.’ Parents compare the price of a fruit to the price of a sugar cookie and opt for the less expensive item, which in most cases is the unhealthy choice.
“We want to see more children benefiting from this project. That is why our club made it our mission to find businesses to partner with us so that we can reach more schools,” said Dialani.
According to the club, Prakash Menghani of Lucky Cosmetics was approached about the programme and “without hesitation he pledged his support.”
School officials select the pupils who receive the breakfast, said the club.
“The school has the responsibility of coordinating the distribution of breakfasts to the students on daily basis.
“Students collect their breakfast at [the – Ed.] school cafeteria and the school will submit a monthly report which will include the number of children who received breakfast, the number of days each child received breakfast, the school’s menu, students’ academic and behavioural progress, bottlenecks/challenges experienced, and measures taken to overcome challenging situations,” said the club.
Menghani, Dialani, and Oranje School Principal Rosa White signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that committed parties to executing and preserving the breakfast programme for the remainder of this academic year and for the academic year 2020/2021.
