Abstract
The focus of this paper is Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) as an innovative approach to boosting enrolment in the public primary schools in Nigeria. Though the programme is not new the world over, it can, however, be said that it is a recent development in Nigeria with its introduction in 2006. This paper, therefore, examined how its implementation in Osun State in particular has activated confidence in the public primary schools again. Because the research is historical and descriptive, both primary and secondary sources were used to elicit information. Documents collected from the Federal and State Ministries of Education were complemented with information gathered through formal oral interviews with some randomly-selected stakeholders in primary education in Osun State. The findings show that since its inception in 2006, there has been a gradual and progressive increase in the enrolment of pupils in public primary schools because parents are now motivated to send their children to school. It was also discovered, according to some teachers, that the nutritional values being derived by the pupils are aiding their mental alertness thereby boosting their academic performance. This paper, therefore, recommends among others, that the monitoring of the programme should be further intensified, so as to maintain and increase the present enrolment. The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, make the programme mandatory in all the states of the federation so as to sustain the trend in enrolment, as well as boost the literacy level in the country.
Akanbi, G. O. (2011). Homegrown school feeding and health programme in Nigeria: An innovative approach to boosting enrolment in public primary schools – A study of Osun State 2002-2010. The African Symposium, 11(2), 20-28. (A Journal of African Educational Research Network. http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/symposium_main.htm