Nutritional Incentives and School Access: An Empirical Study on the Impact of Mid-Day Meals on Primary School Enrollment

Abstract

The goal of expanding equitable primary education access is high on the development agenda of every country with ongoing issues of poverty, food insecurity, and socioeconomic inequalities that prevent children from accessing schools; thus, the last couple of decades have seen a shift toward school feeding programs as integrated policies to address both educational exclusion due to lack of adequate nutrition as well as nutritional deprivation due to lack of educational opportunity. In India, the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) has emerged as one of the largest school feeding programs in the world meant to improve child nutrition, as well as to promote school enrollment, attendance and retention, and increased social inclusion, particularly at the primary school level. While there has been significant growth in MDM's coverage, discussions continue about whether or not the nutritional incentives offered through MDM facilitate the sustained participation of students in education or simply promote initial enrollment. Much of the existing literature on MDM emphasizes the number of schools offering MDM (its administrative coverage) and devote comparatively little time examining the impact of MDM's nutritional supports on educational access outcomes. This study examines the impact of MDM on primary school enrollment within an empirical and policy-oriented context through an analysis of how nutritional incentives affect home decision-making regarding education and how food security, school participation and access to educational opportunities interact. Secondary data sources were used in an analytical approach, including educational reports from the state government; documents on the School Nutrition Programme; educational statistics; and education and development studies published recently. The results show that Mid Day Meals stimulate increased school enrollment, by reducing students' opportunity costs of schooling, enhancing families' benefits for sending children to school, and providing children from economically disadvantaged population groups with greater access to schooling. The effect of Mid-Day Meals on increased enrollment for students from the poorest and most disadvantaged social groups and in regions with high levels of nutritional vulnerability is pronounced and compelling. In contrast, merely increasing enrollment without also enhancing attendance, service quality and the quality of the learning environment will not lead to continued educational successes. Thus, school feeding policies should be viewed as social investments made with multiple dimensions, not as welfare programs. Ensuring that food served at schools has quality nutritional value as well as that there are adequate systems of institutional implementation, and policies are integrated between education and child development are key to achieving inclusive and sustainable access to education.