Impact of school feeding programme on pupils’ retention rates in public primary schools in Fafi Sub-County Garissa County Kenya
Abstract
Impact of school feeding programme on pupils’ retention rates in public primary schools in Fafi Sub-County Garissa County Kenya.The government of Kenya introduced major reforms in the education sector to
improve access and participation of children to basic education. The reforms
include Free Primary Education (FPE), provision of bursaries through Ministry of
Education and Constituency Development Funds (CDF). However these reforms
could not benefit Fafi sub-county as many school age children stayed away from
school due to continuous hunger. This prompted the government to launch school
feeding programmes in 2008.Thus the purpose of this study was to determine the
impact of school feeding programme on the pupils‟ retention rates in public
primary schools in Fafi district, Garissa County. It particularly focuses on the
rationale of school feeding programmes, adequacy of food given to pupils,
sources of funds, forms of school feeding programmes, frequency and consistency
of disbursement of food to public primary schools and community involvement in
the school feeding programme influences pupils‟ retention rates in public primary
schools. Issues that prompted this study were that the government of Kenya
introduced major reforms in the education sector to improve access and
participation of children to basic education. The aims have been to ensure high
retention rates and completion rates in schools. This research was based on
Abraham Maslow‟s theory of human motivation 1943. The investigation was
conducted using the descriptive survey design. The target population consisted of
24 public primary schools with 121 teachers and a total of 5461 enrolled pupils.
Simple random sampling design was used to select the sample size of 12 head
teachers 90teachers and 60 pupils from the target respondents of 162 for this
study. Purposive sampling was used to select 3schools that took part in the
piloting study. Research instruments used were two questionnaires for head
teachers and teachers and question guided interviews for pupils. Content validity
was used whereby research tools were presented to an expert including my
university supervisors. Reliability of the questionnaires was done through piloting
and split-half. The study yielded data that required both qualitative and
quantitative analysis. Quantitative results of data analysis were presented mainly
in tables. From the findings of the study, it was established that retention requires
availability of food in school on a regular basis. Data analysis also established that
the In-school-feeding should be used as an incentive for children to attend school
on a daily basis. From the findings, it was also established that community
involvement has a positive impact on pupils‟ retention rates because it brings
about harmony among the community, teachers and pupils, hence smooth learning
in most public primary schools. The study recommends that public primary
schools should be equipped with basic needs necessary for pupils‟ participation
and achievement at school. Also, the Government of Kenya should collaborate
with World Bank, World Health Organization and World Food Programme to
ensure that basic needs are provided to learners. Besides, head teachers and
teachers should be on the forefront to ensure that school feeding programme
policy is implemented in school. Given the scope and limitations of this study, the
researcher recommends a replica of the study to be performed in other public
primary schools in other districts in hardship areas in Kenya.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Subject
Pupils Rentention RatesDescription
Master of Education in Educational Administration
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [5964]