Nigus Kassie*, Selamawit Bekele, Alemtsehay Mekonnen, Yonatan Menber
Objective: The School Feeding Program (SFP) is a safety net program aimed at providing better nutrition, health and increased access to and achievement in education which is an effective program to reduce student absenteeism. There is limited information on the effect of a school feeding program on class absenteeism among school children in the country, particularly in the study area. Therefore this study was aimed to assess the effects of a school feeding program on class absenteeism among school children in Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia.
Methods: An institution-based comparative cross-sectional study triangulated with an in-depth interview was conducted. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 556 children from both school feeding program and non-school feeding program who were attending Kindergarten. A structured questionnaire and an in-depth interview guide were used to collect data. Data were entered by using Epi-data and analyzed using Statistical Package for social science version 23. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with class absenteeism. A p-value less than 0.05 in multivariable binary logistic regression was considered statistically significant. A thematic analysis was done for qualitative data.
Results: The overall prevalence of school absenteeism was 20.6% (95% confidence interval=(16.9, 24.4%)). A higher school absenteeism prevalence was observed among schools on Non School Feeding Program (29.2%, 95% CI:23.6, 34.6) than in SFP (12%, 95% CI=8.3, 16.0). The odds of class absenteeism were 2.5 time [AOR=2.5; 95% CI=(1.41, 4.29)] higher among parents who had not active school involvement than parents who had active school involvement. The odds of having school absenteeism were decreased by 46% [AOR=0.54, 95% CI=(0.30, 0.96)] among parents who had four or fewer living children as compared to parents who had five or more living children. Moreover, parent who were not living together had 1.8 times [AOR=1.8, 95% CI=(1.11, 3.13)] higher odds of child class absenteeism than their counterpart. Compared to students from the school feeding program, students from non-school feeding program were found to have higher odds of having school absenteeism [AOR=2.8, 95% CI=(1.74, 4.47)].
Conclusion: A significant difference was observed in school absenteeism between program-exposed and non-exposed areas. Therefore, encouraging parents involvement in school, living parents together and initiating school feeding programs for school children is recommended.
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