The relationship between school feeding programmes and school attendance and enrolment among preschool children in Chepalungu Sub-County, Bomet County, Kenya
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Date
2016-03
Authors
Chelangat, Caroline
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Feeding programme may not increase food intake of targeted individuals
by 100 percent, but is provided to improve food consumption, encourage
school attendance, enrolment and learning. The provision of School
Feeding Programme (SFP) also may result in saving health care cost
among children. Despite the benefits that may be obtained from SFP, It is
not easy to administer and not provided in all pre-schools. In Kenya, the
implementation process of SFP has not yet been effectively carried out.
According to the new constitution, Early Childhood Development and
Education (ECDE) is under the management of County Governments, but
little has been done in the provision of ECDE services, SFP included. The
Programme faces challenges like lack of parental support, inadequate
funding and skilled personnel to sensitize on its importance. This study
therefore investigated the implementation of SFP in Early Childhood
Development (ECD) centres in Bomet County with a view to establish its
relationship on children’s enrolment and attendance in Chepalungu Subcounty.
This is because about 65% of children in Kenya do not attend preschool
Education and 57.7% do not attend school in Chepalungu, Bomet
County. Presumably the study sought to investigate the relationship
between SFP and school attendance and enrolment. The study was guided
by Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs and employed
descriptive survey design whereby the independent variable was feeding
programme while the dependent variables were pre-school attendance and
enrolment. Observation schedules, questionnaires for ECD teachers as well
as head teachers, interview schedule for Director of Education and
document analysis were used to collect data. Statistical Packages for Social
Sciences (SPSS) was used to organize and prepare data for analysis. The
findings revealed that there is relationship between SFP and children’s
school attendance and enrolment. This implies that there is a need to
provide SFP in Chepalungu Sub-County. Stakeholders that include the
County government should work hand in hand to provide SFP in preschools.
Description
A research thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of master of education in (early childhood education), in the school of Education of Kenyatta University
March, 2016