Opinion of Pupils, Teachers and Parents on School Feeding Programme in Public Primary Schools, Ede South Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of School feeding Programme is well documented. However, it was discovered that just a few studies have been carried out that involve pupils, parents and teachers on their opinions on school feeding programme. Therefore, this research was aimed at identifying the opinion of pupils, parents and teachers on the benefits of school feeding programme in Osun- State, Nigeria. The research adopted a quantitative cross-sectional research design. The sample size for the pupils was determined by Taro Yamane, which was 296. Random sampling technique was used to select 296 parents that represents each primary four pupils during the Parents, Teachers association meeting. Self-structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient for the constructs ranged from 0.72 to 0.85. The research achieved a response rate of 80%. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that majority of the pupils, teachers and parents 197(65.7%), 14(63.6%), and 117(78.5%) agreed to know about the feeding programme respectively. Also, 161(53.7%) pupils agreed that food was available for all, 9(45%) of the teachers affirmed that they like the school feeding programme and should continue, while 296(100%) of the parents attested to that they have a child in school with school feeding programme. The research concluded that there were adequate awareness of school feeding programme to all stakeholders however, the feeding did not show much contribution to the academic performance and reduction in the dropout rate of pupils of the Ede south Local Government. It was therefore recommended that the government of Osun State can do more than the provision of free feeding, they should monitor the distribution processes, provide free academic textbooks for the pupils and make teaching creative.