EFFECT OF SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME ON ENROLMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN GARU-TEMPANE DISTRICT, UPPER EAST REGION, GHANA

Abstract

The study used a district-level data from 2008-2012 to examine the local effect of school feeding programme on enrolment and academic performance of pupils in food insecure district of Garu- Tempane, Upper East Region. A randomised design was used to select 360 pupils from participating and non-participating public primary schools. Results show that the feeding programme had succeeded in increasing gross enrolment rate by almost a quarter (24%) in participating schools. However, the enrolment rate in non-participating schools plummeted to as low as 7%. In addition, more than half (51.3%) of boys were enrolled compared to that of girls (48.7%). Recorded were significant decline in drop-outs and absenteeism rates in participating schools such that the gross drop-out reduced by almost half (48%), but increased almost by the same proportion (49%) in non-participating schools. Interestingly, the drop-out rate among girls (54.2%) was slightly better than boys (45.8%). Furthermore, gross absenteeism has reduced by more than a third in participating schools, but a quarter (25%) are truants in non-participating. In terms of academic performance, a gross pass rate in core subjects of English Language (35%), Mathematics (21 %) and Integrated Science (18%) were recorded in participating schools as against a lower gross pass rate in core subjects of English Language (26%), Mathematics (34%) and Integrated Science (30%) in non-participating schools. Findings further revealed that the socioeconomic characteristics of pupils in public primary schools are similar which pointed to peasantry of parents/guardians. For instance, the level of literacy of parents/guardians is low, farming was the main occupation and more than half of the homesteads were constructed with mud, thatched and zinc roofs. Furthermore, chi-square analysis of relationship between socioeconomic variables and academic performance showed that sex (leal = 11306> ltab = 5.99, df = 2, p < 0.05) and occupation of parents/guardians (leal = 22052> X2tab= 18JI,dj= 10, p < 0.05) were significant. However, chi-square analysis of relationship between socioeconomic variables and enrolments showed no significant relationship. Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis showed academic performance positive and slight significant correlations (p<0.05) with type of marriage, (r=0.69), number of dependent, (r=0.193) and type of residence/domicile, (r=0.188). The results of the r-test statistics showed a difference in the mean scores of participating (62.46) and non-participating (58.57) at 5% level of significance. In terms of academic performance in core subjects, noticeable differences were also recorded between participating and non-participating schools in their mean scores of English Language (64.37 and 58.71), Mathematics (60.78 and 56.71) and Integrated Science (62.22 and 60.50) all at p<0.05. Results also showed that beyond schools' capacity and parental socioeconomic characteristics, others identified as militating against the feeding programme include: inadequate budget, absenteeism and attitude of teachers to work, neglect of the programme by government, sex discrimination and lack of finance to enrol pupils by parent. In conclusion the programme has succeeded in targeting the poor and vulnerable in the participating schools and pupils in the District. The findings have implication for access to primary schooling particularly for girls. However, in future, longitudinal studies should verify the effect of school feeding to monitor the trend over time with a view to scaling-up the programme