The Impact of Health And Nutrition On The Performance Of Pre-Primary School Cidldren In Thegu Location, Kieni East District, Kenya

Abstract

It is a fact that all people need food and cannot live long without eating enough of it. It is this fact that the researcher has decided to establish the Impact on Health and Nutrition on the Performance of Pre-Primary School in Thegu location Kieni East District; the research is based on finding out the relationship that exist between feeding and the academic performance of the ECE children. The researcher based her research in children Thegu location randomly selected schools and one sub-district hospital Naromoru_Health Centre. In the introduction of the study, the researcher dwelt much on the importance food as a component of life. He compared the rich and the poor countries in terms of food output. In the statement of the problem, the researcher dwelt on the advantages and disadvantages of good nutrit1on in the early ages, the researcher has also gone through poverty in general as a factor contributing to drop-out rate from the ECE centers Thegu Location In literature review, the researcher's viewed the extent to which health and nutrition affects performance of the ECE children m the pre-primary education. The researcher also reviewed the socio-economic status of the parents of the children in the area of study and the way forward to overcome the socio-economic problems faced by these parents. Questionnaires to reach six schools out of the 25 schools in the locations were used. The researcher used random sampling whereby the population covered was about 30%. The researcher found out that the ECE children have very little to feed on and foods eaten are often unbalanced diet this gives rise to acute malnutrition. It is therefore felt that the Government should avail feeding programmes as done in other districts. The parents should also change their attitude and deviate from the main cash crop which is maize and plant food crops such as sorghum, groundnuts, cassava and other food crops which are rich in proteins and vitamins.