Assessment of the difference of school feeding programme on school participation among primary school children in Bishoftu Town, East Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State

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Date

2014-07

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Addis Abeba Universty

Abstract

Introduction: Empirical studies reveal that school feeding programs have significant positive impact on school participation. Such studies suggest school feeding programs are effective in encouraging school enrollment, enhancing class attendances, and lowering student drop-outs. To the contrary, few other studies reveal that there are no observable impacts of school feeding program on school participation Objective: Compare the difference in school participation; specifically on school enrollment, class attendance and drop-out of students of school feeding program beneficiary and nonbeneficiary children of primary school, in Bishoftu Town of East Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Methods: Community based comparative cross-sectional study was employed to compare the difference in school participation of 428 respondents from school feeding program and 428 respondents from non school feeding program schools. Simple random sampling technique was employed to identify the schools and study participants; household questionnaire, key informant interviews and school record review were used to collect data. Collected quantitative data were analyzed using mean, proportion, independent sample test and bivariate correlation techniques. The study was carried out after getting permission from research and ethics committee of School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University College of Health Science. Results: Except enrollment (p=.001) the study found no significant positive effect of school feeding program on two of school participation indicators (attendance and drop-out), although it has some roles with regard to these objectives. The result also shows that the major factors affecting school enrollment are availability of school, school factor, distance to school, the availability of food incentives and safety concerns. Whereas, those affecting class attendance and student drop-out were illness, domestic work (29.3% for SFP and 21.41% for non SFP households), school hour hunger and distance to school. Besides, it has been determined that even among beneficiary (p=0.001) households, the older the household head is the higher likely that the children get enrolled. However, it is found that neither household head education nor household income have significant effect on student drop-out in beneficiary households. Conclusion: The study recommends that both the nutritional and economic values of school feeding program should be improved in order to significantly enhance school participation.

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Assessment of the difference of school feeding programme

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