REACTIONS OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS ON THE SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA Babangida, Iro National Open University of Nigeria Katsina Study Centre
ABSTRACT
The study investigates the reactions of parents and teachers on the school feeding programme (SFP) in public primary schools in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Three (3) research questions and three (3) hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. A sample of two hundred and thirty three (233) parents and teachers selected by means of stratified random sampling from a target population of three thousand (3000) were administered a well-structured and validated questionnaire. Data collected were analysed by means of frequency counts, percentages, standard deviation, grand mean, figures and tables where necessary. Findings revealed that the perception of parents and teachers on the benefits of SFP in public primary schools in Kaduna state include that the programme helps in increasing pupils’ enrollment rate and attendance, reduction of school refusal, absenteeism, and dropout rate among pupils; provision of good meals to pupils. Another finding showed that the perceived challenges of SFP in the study area were that food ratios sometimes do not go round due to large number of pupils; inadequate funding; inadequate management of SFP to meet increasing enrollment; and SFP do not cover all the primary school pupils. Further findings showed that the perceived solutions to the challenges of SFP were adequate funding by the government, assistance from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), establishment of schools’ SFP committees, and regular of review of SFP. There was no significance difference in the perception of parents and teachers on the benefits, challenges and solution to challenges of SFP in public primary schools in Kaduna State. It was therefore recommended that adequate funding must be provided by the government and a management committee for the SFP should put in place in each school.Keywords: School feeding programme and Public primary schools
