CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
School feeding is simply the provision of food to children through schools. According to Save the Children (2007), different countries have one or a combination of the two feeding modalities in place for various objectives. However, they can be grouped into two broad categories: in-school meals and take-home rations where families are given food if their children attend school. Historically, in-school meals have been the most popular modality of school feeding interventions. The school feeding can be in turn grouped into two common categories: programme that provides meals and programme that provides high-energy biscuits or snacks to generate greater impacts on school enrolment, retention rates, and reduce gender or social gaps (Afridi, 2007). Afridi, (2007) contended that there are `indications of a significant swing in thinking about school feeding and many elements of this new thinking are being promoted keenly under the rubric of “home grown school feeding”.
Each year, World Food Program provides millions of school children with food in the world as an incentive to lure children to school and maintain their attendance. The programme targets areas where enrolment ratios are lowest and which can have greatest effect towards improving education standards of the children (WFP, 1996). In 2001, WFP launched a global campaign to expand access to education for millions of children in the world. By then, there were 66 million school children attending school hungry in the world (World Food Program, 2009). According to Ahmed (2004), school meals increased pupils’ participation in school. Ahmed found that school feeding increased pupils’ enrolment, reduced dropout rate, increased attendance and improved performance in participating 2 schools as compared to their counterparts where no feeding programs were available.
School feeding programs constitute critical interventions that have been introduced in many developed and developing countries of the world to address the issue of poverty, stimulate school enrolment and enhance pupils’ performance. In developing countries, almost 60million children go to school hungry every day and about 40 percent of them are from Africa. Providing school meals is therefore vital in nourishing children. Parents are motivated to send their children to school instead of keeping them at home to work or care for siblings (Ahmed 2004).The introduction of the school feeding is traced to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative and several conferences held thereafter by African leaders which aimed to tackle issues, such as peace, security, good economic, political and corporate governance and to make the continent an attractive destination for foreign investment. Some of these developments include the ‘New Partnership for African Development’ which according to the blueprint is a pledge by African leaders, based on common vision and a firm and shared conviction, to eradicate poverty and to place their countries on the path of sustainable growth and development and, at the same time, to participate actively in the world economy and politics. Also, the ‘Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program and the ‘Millennium Hunger Task Force’ amongst others were initiatives which were designed to link school feeding to agricultural development through the purchase and use of locally produced food (Bundy, Burbano, Grosh, Jukes, & Drakes, 2009).
Nigeria happened to be one of twelve (12) pilot countries invited to implement the programme. So far, Nigeria, Cote d’ivore, Ghana, Kenya and Mali commenced the implementation of the school feeding programme. As a result, the Federal Government came up with the Universal Basic Education Act in 2004, which provided the enabling legislative backing for the execution of the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Program. Towards the realization of the objectives of the Universal Basic Education program and the central role of nutrition, the Federal Ministry of Education launched the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Program in 2005. The overall goal of the School Feeding Program in Nigeria is to reduce hunger and malnutrition among school children and enhance the achievement of Universal Basic Education.