SCHOOL FEEDING AND LEARNING OUTCOMES: HOW SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME RELATES TO ATTENDANCE AND ACHIEVEMENT AMONG PRIMARY PUPILS IN SOBA AND IKARA LGAs

The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) provides a daily meal to public primary pupils in Primary 1–3. Evidence from meta-analyses shows that school feeding raises attendance, but Nigerian evidence linking feeding, child health and access to health facilities to learning is thin. This study examined how regularity of school feeding, nutritional status and distance to the nearest health facility relate to attendance and achievement among NHGSFP-eligible pupils in Soba and Ikara LGAs. A cross-sectional survey of 372 pupils in Primary 1–3 (sample size from the Taro Yamane formula) in public primary schools in Soba and Ikara LGAs collected school-register attendance, term achievement scores, height-for-age z-scores, caregiver-reported feeding days and illness, and GPS-derived distance to the nearest health facility. Analyses used t-tests, chi-square, one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc tests, Pearson correlation and multiple regression. Pupils fed on four or more days a week attended 71.9% of school days against 65.9% for less regularly fed pupils (t(351) = 6.53, p < .001, d = 0.68). Attendance fell with distance to a health facility (F(2, 369) = 23.11, p < .001). In regression, feeding days (β = .32), distance (β = -.27), nutritional status (β = .19) and illness days (β = -.24) all predicted attendance (R² = .37). Achievement was predicted by nutritional status and attendance. If replicated with field data, results would show that feeding benefits learning mainly by keeping healthier children in school, and that poor access to health facilities offsets part of the gain. Programme delivery should be paired with health services, especially for pupils far from facilities.