The Effect of School Feeding Program on Learners School Attendance and Academic Performance in Government Led Primary Schools of Arada Sub City, Addis Ababa

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Date

2025-02-01

Authors

Simachew tafere

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Publisher

Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of SFP on the attendance and academic performance of Addis Ababa primary school students for the past six years (2018 -2023 G.C). Correlational research design was utilized to achieve the research objective. A total of200 students were participated in the study. Two hundred primary school students with full school record data for six successive academic years (2018 - 2023 G.C)..Systematic random sampling was employed to selected study participants. for this study, the researcher primarily employed two data collection instruments: the School Record Inventory (SRI) and in-depth interviews. For the quantitative component, data were entered into SPSS version 25, and descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were presented in tables. Subsequently, a parametric statistical test—specifically, the paired samples t-test—was conducted.For the qualitative part, a narrative description method was used to interpret and summarize the information obtained from the interviews.The results are presented in the following table. The paired samples t-test revealed a significant improvement in the academic achievement of primary school students, increasing from pre-SFP (M = 56, SD = 10) to post-SFP (M = 70, SD = 6.33; t = - 10.2, p < .001). Similarly, the test showed a significant improvement in school attendance, rising from pre-SFP (M = 0.95, SD = 0.3) to post-SFP (M = 0.97, SD = 0.2; t = -15.7, p < .001).Based on these findings, the researcher concluded that the School Feeding Program (SFP) positively influenced both academic performance and school attendance among primary school students. Although the mean attendance rate identified in this study was lower than expected, the evidence suggests that SFP contributes meaningfully to improving students’ engagement and performance. Therefore, it is recommended that schools and relevant institutions (such as the Addis Ababa Education Bureau and the Addis Ababa City Administration) further investigate and address the underlying issues affecting attendance rates.

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Keywords

SFP, Academic Achievement, student enrolment, student retention

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