IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v4y2020i8p151-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competencies of Public Primary School Head Teachers in the Management of School Nutrition and Meals Programme at the ECDE Centres in Bungoma South Sub-County

Author

Listed:
  • Claartje Nekoye Wakhungu

    (Kibabii University, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 1699-50200, Bungoma, Kenya)

  • Onex David Opati

    (Kibabii University, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 1699-50200, Bungoma, Kenya)

Abstract

Provision of essential nutrition, shelter, and health care for children is enshrined in the Kenyan constitution. Notwithstanding the efforts by the government to improve the livelihoods of its citizens, under-nutrition remains prevalent among children under the age of 5years which has made the children prone to early childhood diseases that impede academic achievement and sometimes lead to premature death. As the pivots around which all school activities revolve, head teachers are responsible for the management of school nutrition and meals programme of children at school. The main purpose of the study was to analyse the core competencies of public primary school head teachers regarding the management of school nutrition and meals programme at the ECDE Centres. The respondents in the study included one head teacher and one ECDE teacher from a randomly selected sample size of 73 schools. Key informants were selected purposively. The data collection strategy involved the use of structured questionnaires and interview schedules. The results indicated that 32.9% of the ECDE teachers claimed that head teachers supervised the school nutrition and meals programme at the ECDE centres, while 67.1% alleged that head teachers rarely managed the programme. Notably, 9.6% of the head teachers agreed that they had basic knowledge of the existing government policies concerning school nutrition and meals programme, while 90.4% of them did not have basic knowledge on the same. Furthermore, the study revealed that lack of effective evaluation and monitoring mechanism and inadequate funding was the primary challenge to the implementation and sustenance of the programme. The study recommends adequate support from the government through the provision of funds sufficient to support the school nutrition and meals programme. The government should empower the school head teachers through training programmes regarding existing policy documents that will enable them to manage the health and nutrition in schools effectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Claartje Nekoye Wakhungu & Onex David Opati, 2020. "Competencies of Public Primary School Head Teachers in the Management of School Nutrition and Meals Programme at the ECDE Centres in Bungoma South Sub-County," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(8), pages 151-155, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:4:y:2020:i:8:p:151-155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-4-issue-8/151-155.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/virtual-library/papers/competencies-of-public-primary-school-head-teachers-in-the-management-of-school-nutrition-and-meals-programme-at-the-ecde-centres-in-bungoma-south-sub-county/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chakraborty, Tanika & Jayaraman, Rajshri, 2019. "School feeding and learning achievement: Evidence from India's midday meal program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 249-265.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aurino, Elisabetta & Fledderjohann, Jasmine & Vellakkal, Sukumar, 2019. "Inequalities in adolescent learning: Does the timing and persistence of food insecurity at home matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 94-108.
    2. Zhao, Chunkai & Chen, Boou & Song, Zhiyong, 2024. "School nutritious feeding and cognitive abilities of students in poverty: Evidence from the nutrition improvement program in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    3. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Lahoti, Rahul & Sahoo, Soham, 2020. "Are educated leaders good for education? Evidence from India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 42-62.
    5. Daniel Borbely & Markus Gehrsitz & Stuart McIntyre & Gennaro Rossi, 2022. "Does the Provision of Universal Free School Meals Improve School Attendance and Behaviour?," Working Papers 22-5, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    6. Danilo Cavapozzi & Enrico Fornasiero & Teresa Randazzo, 2024. "The Effects of the Indian Mid-Day Meal Scheme on Cognitive and Health Outcomes of Children in Andhra Pradesh," Working Papers 2024: 14, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    7. Fang, Guanfu & Zhu, Ying, 2022. "Long-term impacts of school nutrition: Evidence from China’s school meal reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming, 2022. "Kids eat free: School feeding and family spending on education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 196-212.
    9. Sofía Collante Zárate & Catherine Rodríguez & Fabio Sanchez, 2022. "El poder de un refrigerio. La alimentación escolar y sus efectos educativos en Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20223, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    10. Staffieri, Irene & Sitko, Nicholas J. & Maluccio, John A., 2023. "Sustaining enrolment when rains fail: School feeding, rainfall shocks and schooling in Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Arora, Puneet & Musaddiq, Tareena, 2023. "Can rank-based non-monetary rewards improve student attendance? Experimental evidence from India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    12. Collante Zárate, Sofía & Rodríguez Orgales, Catherine & Sanchez Torres, Fabio, 2024. "The power of a meal. School feeding and its educational effects: Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE 21155, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    13. Biswas, Shreya & Das, Upasak, 2022. "Adding fuel to human capital: Exploring the educational effects of cooking fuel choice from rural India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    14. Elisabetta M. Ferrero & Ayala Wineman & Arlene Mitchell, 2023. "Changes in school feeding operations during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from 139 countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(6), pages 1521-1537, December.
    15. Kaur, Randeep, 2021. "Estimating the impact of school feeding programs: Evidence from mid day meal scheme of India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Drèze, Jean & Khera, Reetika, 2017. "Recent Social Security Initiatives in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 555-572.
    17. Zhou, Yanran & Ren, Jingru & Zheng, Xiaodong, 2024. "Feeding for a brighter future: The long-term labor market consequences of school meals in rural China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    18. Bulus Barnabas & Miroslava Bavorova & Drini Imami & Edvin Zhllima, 2024. "Access to Food vs. Education - Feeding the Stomach is Important for Feeding the Mind," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(6), pages 2739-2767, December.
    19. Bhattacharya, Nilanjan & Pakrashi, Debayan & Saha, Sarani & Sahoo, Soham, 2023. "Impact of early childhood school intervention on enrollment and learning outcomes: Evaluation of a public program in India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1290, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Kalliyil, Muneer & Sahoo, Soham, 2024. "Does Restricting Access to Credit Affect Learning Outcomes? Evidence from a Regulatory Shock to Microfinance in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17404, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:4:y:2020:i:8:p:151-155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.