The influence of school feeding programme on retention of children in primary schools: the case of Laikipia East district Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate th e influence of school feeding programme on retention of pupils in primary sc hools of Laikipia East District. The study was conducted in this area because for many years there had been massive dropout of pupils from school partly due to poverty. Many pupils were forced to go and look for menial job in order to support their parents. The research study had five objectives which were : To assess how the nature of food provision influences pupil’s retention in school. To esta blish how source of food provision influences pupils retention in school. To determine how the mode of distribution of food influences retention in school. To assess the extent to which parent involvement in food production influences retention of pupils in school. To investigate the role of school feeding progra mme in changing people’s culture. The Research study targeted 41 Primary schools in Laikipia East District, out of the three zones, Daiga, Nanyuki North and Nanyuki South. It also targets forty one head teachers from the said schools and 13, 781 pupils. The number of teachers is f our hundred (400). Parents targeted were two thousand. The researcher used purposive samplin g to study schools with a steady school feeding programme. Quota sampling was used to ensure that at least three schools from the three zones represented. Data collection instrument included questionnaires to parents, pupils, head teachers and teachers. The researcher also intends to use an interview schedule to interview parents who may be illiterate. The research study adopted the expost facto research design which is descri ptive in nature and is used in social science. The approach will be quantitative in nature for data collection. Data was described in tabular, graphical and numerical form. Descriptive statistics included measures of central tendency – mean, median and mode. It w ill also used measures of dispersion/ spread – range and standard deviation. In making conclu sions and inferences, the researcher used inferential statistics especially in correlati on to show relationship between two variables. Chapter four provided data analysis presentati on interpretation and discussions of the study. The findings were presented in tables using (S.P.S.S) Statistical pack age for social sciences Version 18.0. Chapter five provided a summary of the findings and recommendations.