Effect of the National School Feeding Programme on Pupils’ Enrolment, Attendance and Retention: A Case Study of Nyoglo of the Savelugu-Nantong Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

The Ghana School Feeding Programme-GSFP is one of the social intervention programmes introduced to improve the educational standards of rural communities in Ghana. The main objective of the programme is to motivate parents to enroll their wards in basic schools, improve attendance, make pupils stay in schools and to improve the nutritional intake of children in rural areas. Nyoglo community of the Savelugu-Nantong Municipality which had the lowest pupils’ enrolment, attendance and retention rates had been a beneficiary of this social intervention since 2005, yet, it appears no systematic academic inquiry exists looking at the effect of the school feeding programme-SFP on enrolment, attendance and retention. To fill this lacuna, the current study explored the contribution of the Programme on pupils’ enrolment, attendance and retention using 150 respondents. The study was guided by the mixed method approach to research. Data for the study were collected using both interview schedules and in-depth interview guide. The results revealed that a higher percentage of the respondents viewed meals prepared for pupils to be of moderately low quality and quantity. This notwithstanding, it was discovered that the GSFP has contributed significantly to pupils’ enrolment, attendance and retention compared to the period before the programme’s implementation. The study, therefore, recommends that government and other stakeholders in-charge of the programme should remain committed to providing the needed resources for the smooth running of the programme so as to improve the educational infrastructure of rural communities.