School Feeding
Summary
WFP works with the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education to
provide micronutrient fortified high energy biscuits to pre-primary
and primary school children in high poverty prone areas. This acts
as an additional incentive for parents to keep children in school. It
is complemented with a learning package to children, parents and
other community members on vegetable gardening, health, nutrition and hygiene. WFP is also involved in capacity building with the
Ministry to assist them in the scale up and management of their
National School Feeding Programme.
Context
At a glance
Budget: US$28 million (2012)
Beneficiaries: 1.1 million pre-primary and
primary school children (2012) in 6763
schools.
Government partner: Ministry of Primary
and Mass Education
Donors: Australia, Government of Bangladesh, Japan, Spain, USDA, Multilateral
Objective: Contribute to the Government’s
goal of universal primary education by improving access to basic education for schoolaged children, particularly those living in
poverty prone areas
Bangladesh has made excellent progress in terms of net school
enrolment rates and elimination of gender disparity in education.
However, Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve universal primary enrolment and completion by 2015 if the current trends in access and
completion do not improve.
An estimated 3.3 million primary school children do not go to
school and only 51 percent of children complete the full five-year
cycle of primary education. Attendance rates still need to increase
considerably and currently stand at 79 percent and 84 percent respectively for boys and girls. The absence of basic education for a
large section of the adult population continues to impact economic
development.
The national School Feeding Programme
In September 2011, the government launched
the national School Feeding Programme in
Poverty Prone Areas. This is being scaled up
to 1.2 million in 2012 and is based on the WFP
model. WFP will continue to provide capacity
support to the Ministry of Primary and Mass
Education over the coming years.
The government has allocated US$90 million
from its own resources, over a period of three
and a half years for this programme.
Key activities
Provision of fortified high energy biscuits: The school feeding programme intends to simultaneously fight micronutrient deficiencies and hunger among primary schoolchildren. WFP provides a 75g packet of biscuits to primary students
and a 50g packet of biscuits to pre-primary school children six days per
week. The biscuits provide 338 kcal/day to primary school children and
225 Kcal/day to pre-primary school children and meet 67 percent of their
daily micronutrient requirements.
Delivery of an essential learning package: The learning package to children, parents and other community members involves setting up a school
vegetable garden and lessons on water, sanitation and hygiene, health, nutrition and social issues, such as dowry and early marriage and pregnancy.
In addition, WFP promotes women’s leadership in School Management
Committees. Deworming tablets are also provided by the government.
Capacity support to the Government: WFP has established a Programme Liaison Unit within the Directorate
of Primary Education, under the Ministry of Primary and
Mass Education. The estimated cost of the technical assistance over three years is US$4.5 million.
This Unit is providing technical assistance focusing on
project design and management, selection of NGOs and
biscuit factories, procurement, quality control, logistics,
monitoring and evaluation and a possible feasibility study
to identify alternative school feeding modalities.
Key achievements in 2011
• Increased enrolment by 16% and reduced prevalence
of iron deficiency anaemia by 12% of students
compared to non-assisted schools.
• Provided school feeding to 1,340,092 pre-primary
and primary school children (51% girls) in 8,926
schools. Each child received an average of 220
feeding days during the year.
• Established 533 school gardens to demonstrate good
homestead gardening practices and to deliver food
and nutrition security messages.
• Strengthened government ownership as
demonstrated by the launching of the national
School Feeding Programme and strong government
contributions to WFP.
The School Feeding Impact Evaluation 2011 concluded
that school feeding:
• Creates a positive environment for learning
by reducing short-term hunger and increasing
attentiveness in class.
• Provides a strong incentive to send children to
school, particularly in the first two years.
• Helps students complete the five year primary school
cycle, according to secondary students.
Value for money: What investing in school
feeding achieves
For an investment of US$1 million, WFP can provide
school feeding to 33,000 pre-primary and primary school children for a full year. This works out to
US$30 per child per year. It also funds the delivery of
a learning package in 100 schools and the development of 60 school gardens.
A cost benefit analysis undertaken in 2010 by the
Boston Consulting Group estimated that the Bangladesh school feeding programme achieves a return on
investment of 4 to 1.
Keeping children in school is one of the most effective means of increasing their future income earning potential and is an effective strategy for delaying
marriage and increasing mobility for girls.
Donors:
Last update: July 2012
Geographic focus
School feeding is implemented in urban and rural
areas with high levels of poverty and low primary
education completion rates.