Assessment of the Effect of School Feeding on Dropout Rate in Kolfe Keranio Public Primary School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Quasi‐Experimental Study

TL;DR

This study examines how a school feeding program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, affects student dropout rates, finding a general decline after implementation.

Contribution

The study provides localized evidence on the impact of school feeding on dropout rates in a specific Ethiopian subcity.

Findings

Female students had higher dropout rates than males before and after the program.

Dropout rates decreased from 3.18% to 0.91% between 2009 and 2012, before the program.

The program was associated with a lower and more stable dropout rate after 2012.

Abstract

School feeding programs aim to reduce children’s immediate hunger and improve health and education outcomes. The study will apply trend analysis to investigate the changes in dropout rate before and after implementing the school feeding program. However, there is limited data on the effect of school feeding programs on dropout rates in Addis Ababa, especially in the study area.

The objective of the study was to assess the effect of the school feeding program on the dropout rate in Kolfe Keranio subcity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2024.

Quantitative research approaches were employed to investigate the problem. Twenty‐three primary schools, from grade one to grade 8, were included in the research. A school roster document was a source of quantitative data. A statistical test, a one‐group pretest–post‐test design, was used to measure the differences in dropout rate before and after the program’s implementation.

The results of the retrospective study revealed that each year’s female students had a higher dropout rate than male students before as well as after the implementation of the school feeding program. Concerning the trend from 2009 to 2015, the dropout rate decreased from 3.18% to 0.91% from 2009 to 2012 (before school feeding implementation), and an up‐and‐down trend was observed from 2012 to 2015 (after school feeding program implementation). However, the magnitude of the dropout rate was lower from 2012 to 2015, which indicates that the after‐school feeding program had started. The paired sample T‐test also identifies that the decreased trend in dropout was really due to the school feeding program implementation.

Based on the findings, the following recommendations were forwarded for Kolfe Keranio subcity for each woreda educational office and each public primary school needed to make a proactive effort to decrease the dropout rate by bringing out‐of‐school children into schools by advocating the benefits of the SFSIS program, and SFSIS implementers, with the help of educational planners, should set up more effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to provide all the SFSIS program components.

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