The Impact of School Feeding on Academic Gains at Notre Dame Village Central Elementary School

Abstract

School feeding is one of the Department of Education's school initiatives that has an impact on children's overall development and academic achievement. Studies show that a feeding program alleviates hunger and enhances nutrition, which supports healthy child and family development. Besides, the school feeding program raises concerns about the program's efficiency in relation to school goals. In addressing hunger, school-based feeding programs are considered an avenue of an all-inclusive strategy. However, caution that charitable programs could have unintended negative consequences, such as dependency and stigmatization. Henceforth, a study on the relationship between school feeding programs and pupils’ academic performance in Notre Dame Village Central Elementary School, Cotabato City Division, was conducted, which requires a proper intervention for the development of the quality of school life among learners. Secondary data, particularly pupils’ nutritional status and grades, were used in data gathering. The data were analyzed, and the results were discussed accordingly. Statistics Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed for quantitative data analysis. The study revealed that the students were determined to be at a fairly satisfactory level in terms of their academic achievement, meaning they are getting close to but have not yet reached the satisfactory threshold. They must therefore work much harder to raise their level of performance. The outlook is still positive, although the majority of students are below the normal nutritional level. Nevertheless, the presence of wasted students suggests that focused interventions are required, which highlights the importance of supporting school-based initiatives.