dc.description.abstract | Background summary.
School meal comprises the food provided to students and sometimes to teachers at school. In
many countries of the globe and depending on the school, it is served at the beginning of school
day, lunch time and supper for boarding schools. Together with other factors such as family
financial background, school’s academic performance, religious affiliation of the school, school
meals have been described to be amongst the lead determinants students’ enrolment in schools
but it is not well documented in Kamuli District. This study assessed the influence school meals
have on students’ enrolment in selected day secondary schools in Kamuli district.
Methods.
Observation, research, interview and questionnaires were used to collect the required data from
study participants. Components of the school farm were seen and taken note of. While using
questionnaires school administrators and students were respectively given separate questionnaire
forms to fill in. Research was conducted through reading several Biology textbooks on the topic
of nutrition, as well as reading several literatures related to feeding in schools across the globe,
and learners’ enrolment in schools online from the internet. Questions that were orally answered
by the interviewees who were both the school administrators and students were also asked by the
interviewer.
Results.
Findings showed that all the schools carried out crop production in the school garden, and that
none of the schools carried out animal rearing in their farms. The highest number of food groups
offered to learners as school meals was 5, and the minimum was 2. The food groups included
cereals, Dark green leafy vegetables, vitamin A rich fruits, legumes, and oils and fats. The
enrolment: school age ratios were significantly higher for schools which gave diverse food groups
(more than 3 food groups) to learners in form of meals, compared to that of the school which
offered very few food groups (less than 3 food groups) to their learners in school meals.
Conclusion.
Provision of school meals diversified with various food groups boost students’ enrolment into day
secondary schools in Kamuli district. | en_US |