Table 3 General characteristics of schoolchildren and availability of school meal (grades 1–5)
From: Home-grown school feeding: assessment of a pilot program in Nepal
Grades 1–3 | Grades 4–5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pilot (n = 387) | Control (n = 390) | p-value | Pilot (n = 375) | Control (n = 360) | p-value | |
Age (years) | 7.6 | 7.7 | 0.759 | 10.4 | 10.5 | 0.309 |
Gender (% of children) | ||||||
- Male | 49.6 | 50.3 | 0.914 | 46.4 | 52.5 | 0.114 |
- Female | 50.4 | 49.7 | 53.6 | 47.5 | ||
Grade (% of children) | ||||||
- Grade 1–4 | 22.2 | 20.5 | 0.773 | 52.5 | 48.3 | 0.287 |
- Grade 2–5 | 36.7 | 36.2 | 47.5 | 51.7 | ||
- Grade 3 | 41.1 | 43.3 | ||||
Home language (% of children) | ||||||
- Nepali | 45.2 | 36.2 | 0.035 | 40.5 | 33.6 | 0.082 |
- Tamang | 25.6 | 29.2 | 25.3 | 33.1 | ||
- Tharu | 21.4 | 22.6 | 25.6 | 23.6 | ||
- Other | 7.8 | 12.1 | 8.5 | 9.7 | ||
Living arrangement (% of children) | ||||||
- Extended family | 42.6 | 41.8 | 0.618 | 42.7 | 41.7 | 0.620 |
- Both parents | 48.3 | 51.3 | 46.9 | 49.7 | ||
- Single parent | 6.5 | 5.4 | 10.4 | 8.6 | ||
- Other | 2.6 | 1.5 | ||||
Receive school meal (% of children) | ||||||
- Yes | 100.0 | 85.1 | < 0.001 | 99.5 | 83.3 | < 0.001 |
- No | 0.0 | 14.9 | 0.5 | 16.7 | ||
Frequency of school meals (% of children) | ||||||
- Never to not always | 14.5 | 32.3 | < 0.001 | 24.0 | 50.0 | < 0.001 |
- Every school day (6 times a week) | 85.5 | 67.7 | 76.0 | 50.0 | ||