SCHOOL FEEDING AND EDUCATION BREAKS THE POVERTY CYCLE IN GARRAM COMMUNITY

Education is a key to development and a powerful tool for lifting millions of the world’s poor out of poverty. As the educational level of a population increases, so do its chances of living a healthy, productive life. A survey of 106 developing countries showed strong, positive correlations between adult literacy rates and life expectancy (UNESCO, 1995) while, in Africa, an increase of one percentage point in the national literacy rate was associated with a two-year rise in life expectancy. (Lockheed and Verspoor, 1990)

Formal education acts as a powerful determinant of economic productivity, even when just a modest level of schooling is attained. Individuals who have completed primary school, for example, tend to have higher earnings and lower fertility, as well as a better health and nutrition status than their less-schooled fellow citizens. They save more of their incomes, adopt new technologies more readily and participate more often in civic affairs. (Levinger, 1994). The education of girls is of particular importance.

We now know that girls’ education is one of the wisest and most profitable investments a developing country like Nigeria can make. It is the key to empowerment and gives girls the knowledge and tools they need to improve their lives and that of their families and communities.

In Nigeria , illiterate girls marry as early as 11 years of age and have an average of six children each. In contrast, girls who go to school marry later, have greater spacing between births and have an average of 2.9 children.  In a 2001 report, UNICEF reported that infants born to mothers with no formal education are twice as likely to die before their first birthday than are babies born to mothers with a post-primary school education. (UNICEF, 2001). Another study found that a single year of a mother’s education was associated with a nine percent decrease in child mortality. Each added year of schooling for a mother results in a five to 10 percent decrease in mortality among her children. (King, 1994).The benefits of education for girls extend beyond the girls themselves to their children and to future generations; educated mothers are better equipped to rear their children. A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute shows that between 1970 and 1995, 44 percent of the decrease in child malnutrition was attributable to improvements in female education. (IFPRI, 1998) Educated mothers are also more likely to send their own daughters to school.

Innovative approaches such as take-home rations and school feeding can provide solutions for those seeking avenues to reduce poverty and hunger and meet global commitments for women and education for all.

School feeding is a very effective way of using food aid for education.

Since 1963, WFP has provided nutritious meals to schoolchildren in poor countries around the world. It uses food as a direct input to attract children to school in food-insecure areas, where enrollment ratios are lowest. WFP experience shows that school feeding works: When food is available at school, enrollment and attendance rates increase significantly, and dropout rates decrease. Providing breakfast and/or lunch to children at school can also help reduce hunger and improve learning. When children no longer have to worry about food, they can concentrate on their studies and gain skills to overcome poverty. Children are more likely to stay in school longer if they have enough food to learn and thrive. As for educating girls, food-insecure parents are more likely to send their daughters to school

knowing they will receive at least one solid meal during the day without cutting into the family budget.

When take-home rations are provided in addition to in-school feeding, poor families have an incentive to send their daughters to school and to maintain their school attendance. From the study  WFP experience is dramatically clear: school feeding and take-home rations work for girls’ education. This applies to us in Garram Children’s School and Community.

We would like to encourage our numerous donors to continue to give us this great opportunity.

Thanks for your great contributions.

Tonchin A G Guse

Project Director

Garram Children’s School

www.garramchildrensschoolandorphanage.org

School's e-mail address: garramchildrensschool@yahoo.co.uk

Project Director's E-mail: gusegcs@yahoo.com

Links:

• school's website