Impact of school feeding programme on children’s anthropometry and learning outcome in Chikwawa district - Malawi.
| dc.contributor.author | Chavula, Kondwani | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-07T10:27:03Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-07T10:27:03Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | Master of Education in Early Childhood Development, Care and Education. | |
| dc.description.abstract | In order to improve school enrolment in Malawi, the government is implementing a School Feeding Programme (SFP) in public schools in Chikwawa, one of the worst hit Tropical Cyclone Freddy and Elnino towns in Malawi where thousands of people died and millions were displaced without food to eat. Despite well implemented School Feeding Programme, there remains a need to comprehensively assess the impact of the SFP on the anthropometry and learning outcome. Therefore, the study aimed at assessing the effects of the School Feeding Programme on school children’s nutritional status and learning outcomes. A Cross-sectional Quasi-experimental research design where one group of children who are beneficiaries of school meals in schools implementing SFP and another group of children in non-SFP was studied in Chikwawa District, Malawi. Two hundred and eight thousand (208) school learners who had been in the programme for 6 months or more were administered with child assessments using Zambian Child Assessment Tool (ZamCAT). Data variables were coded and entered on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20), WHO anthro and STATA version 17. Data was analysed to generate descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics were also analysed using t-test and linear regression to determine significant differences and relationship between SFP and non-SFP schools. The results revealed significant relationships between anthropometry and learning outcome. At alpha 0.05, a strong positive relationship was found between MUAC and letter naming scores (R=0.046). The study also found that relationship existed between height for age and letter naming scores (R=0.037). Therefore, policies on SFP in early education and or primary education should be promoted to ensure that children attain normal nutrition status and develop optimally and holistically as they pursue their education. Future research should also be done on a large scale longitudinally to further evaluate the effect of SFP on school trajectories and the modification effect of socio-economic status. Keywords: Cognitive skills, Education, Malawi, Nutrition, School Feeding | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.unza.zm/handle/123456789/9345 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | The University of Zambia | |
| dc.title | Impact of school feeding programme on children’s anthropometry and learning outcome in Chikwawa district - Malawi. | |
| dc.type | Thesis |