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Global Food for Education Program
Enrollment Increases
The official enrollment figures reported by the head teacher to the appropriate ministry or department responsible for collecting such information was used to evaluate the GFE pilot projects. However, this data does not necessarily show a complete picture. For example, governments may exert pressure on schools to report high enrollment figures and low dropout rates in order to increase educational subsidies. Recognizing these constraints, USDA found that overall enrollment in GFE-participating schools increased by 10.4 percent and 6.04 percent for WFP- and PVO-administered projects, respectively. The greatest increases were documented in areas with serious food deficits and previously low enrollment levels. Enrollment increases were reported in virtually all countries with available data. Declines were reported in Uganda due to ongoing war and rebel activity, which blocked children’s access to school.
Examples of enrollment increases include:
In the Congo, the International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD) project reported a 7.49-percent overall increase in enrollment, with an 8-percent increase for girls alone.
In the Land O’Lakes (LOL) project in Bangladesh, there was an enrollment increase of 24 percent from their baseline study, with numbers for girls increasing by 20 percent, based on feeding 220,354 children in 957 schools.
In Bosnia, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) reported that a number of ethnic Roma (a minority group) children had enrolled in school. This resulted in an increase in overall school enrollments and assisted in the integration of these marginalized children in school. Their participation also resulted in a decrease in potential delinquency, which in turn helped to decrease the extent to which this segment of the population is stigmatized.
In Tanzania, the WFP reported that enrollment increased by 26.6 percent for boys and 26.2 percent for girls.
In Eritrea, Mercy Corps reported that student enrollment increased 10 percent since high-energy biscuits were introduced for breakfast in 114 schools. According to teachers and school administrators, students who dropped out earlier in the school year were returning to re-enroll.
In Guatemala, CRS reported that in the community of Baja Verapaz, which was suffering from drought and loss of income due to the ailing coffee industry, only 30 percent of school-aged children were enrolled in primary schools; the others had migrated to find work. Because of the combination of rations and school feeding, 12 families were documented to have remained to enroll their children in school.
WFP reported that enrollment jumped from 50 to 150 boys and girls in the first year of the school feeding program in a community school in Colombia.
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