School Feeding

ABSTRACT
School feeding is necessary for all secondary school students due to the fact that no nations’ education should be toyed with, this is also because growth and development of any nation hinges upon the quality of education obtainable in any given nation. Also, for any nation to actually compete globally in this 21st century, it should be fast in tackling issues connecting to the quality of education of its nation. Therefore, this study investigated school feeding and academic performance of students in Ilorin metropolis private and public secondary schools. The objectives of this study were to determine; (i) academic performance of students fed with meals and those not fed in private/public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis; (ii) if the number of meals students are given have any effect on academic performance of students in private/public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis secondary schools; (iii) effect of school enrollment on academic performance of students in private/public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis; (iv) relationship between school feeding and students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis; (vii) the effect of students participation in class activities on academic performance and ; (vii) the impact of class attendance on academic performance. Descriptive survey design was used for this research. The population for this study comprised two private and two public secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis using Purposive sampling. 200 students and 20 teachers and four principals were drawn as participants for the study. Correlation, t-test and Regression analysis was used to analyze the data collected, the entire hypothesis formulated were tested. The findings were that: the academic performance in secondary schools with feeding programmes were high in Ilorin metropolis; there is a significant difference between the academic performance of students who are fed and those who are not fed. The study concluded that when students are well fed they tend to exhibit excellent performance, hence the need for more nutritious diet in schools. Based on the conclusion, the study therefore, recommended that the government should add other schools to the feeding programmes and make it mandatory to accommodate all the secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis and Kwara state by extension, since, it has been revealed from the findings of the study that school feeding helps in building child’s cognitive strength.