The Effect of Ye Enat Weg School Feeding Program on Student Academic Performance: The Case of Primary Schools in Yeka Sub-city Addis Ababa

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the impact of Ye Enat Weg School Feeding Program on students' academic performance specifically on students' average test scores and student absenteeism from school among primary school children in Yeka sub-city, Addis Ababa. This study used both primary and secondary data sources. A multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents. Accordingly, 225 students (103 study and 122 control groups) were selected from grade 6 and 7 students of two primary schools using a structured questionnaire. In this study, both descriptive analysis and econometric models are used to analyze the data. The independent sample t-test result shows that there is a significant mean difference between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the school feeding program in terms of average score and absent days before the application of matching methods. To estimate the impact of the program on students’ academic performance Propensity Score Matching (PSM) model is applied with all four matching algorithms. Accordingly, the school feeding program significantly and positively impacted the average score of the study group. Regarding absent days, the impact of the school feeding program is significant in the Kernel matching method and stratification matching. (p < 0.01).  The findings of this study call for the importance of ensuring the sustainability of the school feeding program.