The government has launched the pilot run of its school breakfast program on Sunday, along with the start of the new academic year.

The program was officially launched during the assembly at Aminiya School by Education Minister Aishath Ali, where Vice President Faisal Naseem was chief guest.

Over 14,000 students participated in the program on Sunday. The program is yet being implemented in only 25 state-run schools.

However, with a budget of over MVR 50 million, the government says it will be expanded to include all 213 local schools from the second semester of 2019, onwards.

The ministry said that the breakfast program has been formed with advice from nutritional experts and follows the same function of similar programs in other countries.

The ministry has prepared 10 menus which include sandwiches, omelets, flat bread (roshi), and packets of milk.