Taiwan Quick Take: Schools promote breakfast

Several elementary schools and junior high schools around the country have been pushing children into eating breakfast before starting their daily studies in line with the "healthy schooling" project sponsored by the Department of Health and the Ministry of Education. A total of 516 elementary schools and junior high schools have participated in the "healthy schooling" project, volunteering to do what should be the parents' responsibility of making sure their children have breakfast before going to school. Speaking at a meeting on the "healthy schooling" project, Lin Chien-tsung (林建棕), principal of Shenken Elementary School in Taipei County, said a survey conducted by his school five years ago found that about 15 percent of sixth-grade students never had breakfast before going to school. After five years' of promotion and persuasion, Lin said almost all Shenken students under fourth grade now eat breakfast at home before going to school, while some 90 percent of fifth-graders and sixth-graders regularly have breakfast.