Nutrition status, education participation, and school achievement among Kenyan middle-school children

OBJECTIVE: The intervening effects of nutrition status on school attendance rates among Kenyan middle school pupils were assessed. The study also examined the effects of nutrition status on primary school achievement scores for the eighth-grade class of 1997. METHODS: Data were obtained on 851 pupils enrolled in the five indexed schools. Anthropometric measures included weight for age, height for age, and relative weight for height, and the values were derived from the raw data. Percentage of attendance rates derived from daily school attendance and raw scores on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were the measures of educational participation and achievement. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, correlation, and linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Twenty-nine percent of the children fell below the 90% cutoff value for acceptable relative weight for height. The percentages of the population falling below -2 standard deviations on indices for height for age and weight for age were 16.64 and 3.78, respectively. Univariate analyses showed that anthropometric assessment varied by school and sex. School attendance rates varied by school and grade. Achievement scores on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education varied by school and the interaction of sex by school. Regression analysis showed attendance rate to be the strongest predictor of achievement, followed by relative weight for height. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of nutritional stress is a significant educational problem in this population. The association between attendance rate and nutrition status is a function of socioeconomic status. The predictive effect of nutrition status on educational achievement is more evident for girls with poor socioeconomic status.