Perceived Effect of Home Grown Feeding Programme on Pupil’s Academic Performance in Ogun State, Nigeria: Nexus for Pupils Academic Excellence

This study was conducted to assess the perceived effect of home grown school feeding programme (HGSFP) on pupil’s academic performance in Ogun State, Nigeria. The objective of this study was to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents; influence of HGSFP on pupils’ enrollment before and after the commencement of the programme; effect of home-grown feeding program on pupils’ academic performance and challenges of HGSFP in the study area. Descriptive survey design was used for this study. A questionnaire was administered to capture the perceived effect HGSFP on 780 respondents (pupils) in four purposively selected Local Government Area of Abeokuta Metropolis. Findings reveals that above half (51.3%) of the pupils were males, 43.6% were between the age 4–6years, 33.3% were 7–9years. The result showed that the pupils had a mean height of 129.72±11.43, weight of 24.32±5.41, weight for age of 1.76±1.83, height for age of 2.93±2.84 and BMI for age of 0.074±1.25. The anthropometric status of the pupils reveals that majority (94.9%) has normal weight-for-age, 4.5% were underweight and 0.6% has severe underweight, while majority (96.2%) of the pupils also has normal height-for age. All (100.0%) of the teacher indicated that the meals served are assorted and nutritious such as yam, porridge, rice, beans, yam porridge, bread, vegetables, eggs, beef, fruits and so on, while majority (92.9%) of the teacher indicated that there is an increase in school enrolment due to the provision of HGSFP and 85.7% of them reveals that the HGSFP is funded through cost sharing between the state and local governments. Challenges in the HGSFP were overcrowded classroom, inadequate storage facility, lack of effective monitoring and evaluation system, insufficient funding and seasonality in the study area. The study concludes that HGSFP was a very good initiative by the government as it enhances pupils’ enrollment, attendance, retention dropout, class participation, quality, and cognitive development. It is therefore recommended that ministry of education and the state should review the home grown school feeding program, make it continuous and extend it in schools in poverty ridden areas. enrollment, attendance, retention dropout, class participation, quality, and cognitive development. Food served was locally procured by vendors within the study area. The study revealed a moderate level of perceived effectiveness of the home grown school feeding program in Ogun State. Meal skipping was prevalent as many of the children skipped meals while breakfast was the meal skipped by many of those who skipped meals. A vast majority of the children studied were normal while various forms of malnutrition were also present. Also, they were served locally grown food. The study also concluded that the state government should double its efforts to address the challenges identified in the programme implementation in order to sustain the impressive pupils’ enrolment and academic performance. Unfortunately, this study found that the implementation of the Home Grown School Feeding Programme falls short of some of the standards stipulated by the World Food Programme due to various challenges. Their age, sex, and class level was not significant with their perceived effect of HGSFP while location was significant.