Author: Margery Wanjira Muriuki
Department of Postgraduate in Education
The Catholic University of Eastern Africa
P.O. Box 62157-00200, Nairobi –Kenya
Email: mmuthire@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, a number of school health intervention programmes have been implemented in Kenya. Despite the implementation of these interventions, questions on their effectiveness to educational outcomes still arise. This study attempted to investigate effect of provision of nutritious school meals on educational achievements in secondary schools in Kibra Sub-county in Nairobi, Kenya. The research was guided by the question of how provision and access to adequate nutritional school meals affects educational achievements in secondary schools in Kibra Sub-County. The study used a mixed method design, namely convergent parallel design. The following people were included in the study’s target population: form 3 and 4, and school matrons. A target population of the study was 3277 students and 18 matrons. A sample size of 354 respondents was selected through a combination of sampling techniques: cluster random sampling, homogeneous purposive sampling, proportionate sampling, simple random sampling and expert sampling. Student’s questionnaires and matron’s interview guide were used to collect data. The data gathered was both qualitative and quantitative. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data, and the results presented in verbatim and narrative form. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data from students’ questionnaires. The quantitative data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency counts. SPSS statistical software was used to analyze the quantitative data (version 23). The data were then presented using frequencies and percentages and summarized using tables. The study found that nutritious school meals have a significant effect on education achievement in schools. The study recommended that concerted effort is required to ensure that quality and quantity of nutritious school meals was maintained at all times for better education outcome in secondary schools. Further, school management should promote healthy diets by providing a variety of foods, such as high-fiber foods, plenty of fruits and vegetables, legumes, and limiting intake of fats, free sugars, and sodium.
Keywords: Nutrients provision, nutritious school meals, educational achievements, secondary school achievements, nutritional meals.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Suggested Citation
Wanjira, M.M. (2020). Effect of Provision of Nutritious School Meals on Educational Achievements in Secondary Schools in Kibra Sub-County in Nairobi, Kenya. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 8(2), 10-20. Available online at http://arjess.org/education-research/effect-of-provision-of-nutritious-school-meals-on-educational-achievements-in-secondary-schools-in-kibra-sub-county-in-nairobi-kenya.pdf
