The Effect Of School Feeding Programme On Primary School Attendance In Rural Areas Of Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of School Feeding Programme (SFP) on primary school children attendance in Epe Local government Area (LGA) of Lagos.. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect information from 220 school pupils in the state. The result of the regression analysis showed that punctuality; absenteeism; child’s gender; child’s age; child’s birth order; household size; years of education of the household head and SFP were significant variables which affect attendance of children in school. The t-test revealed that the school-feeding programme [SFP] succeeded in increasing parent’s income. The result of the test of structural difference in the two samples taken using the chow test revealed that SFP improves attendance of children in school and that there was significant difference in attendance of children in class with and without SFP. It was recommended that government should extend the School Feeding Programme to all the states and all primary school classes in Nigeria so as to increase attendance of school age children and improve enrolment of children in schools. The economic implications of this are that it helps to increase parents’ income, thereby alleviating extreme poverty and hunger among pupils and parents.