1.2 Statement of the
Problem
Education plays a vital role in human resources development.
Schooling, according to the human capital theory, is an investment that
generates higher future income for individuals. It elevates the productivity
and competence of individuals and thus produces skilled manpower that is
capable of leading the economy towards the path of sustainable economic
development.
Strengthening the quality of education has become a global
agenda at all educational levels and more so at the primary level. Quality
primary education also ensures increased access and equality and it is mainly
due to these reasons that various international Forums and Declarations have
pledged improvements in quality of primary education. It was stated in a
report of Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 1991) that
dropout phenomenon is a world-wide problem associated with the process of
development in any society whether such society is a developing or developed
nations. For instance, in the United States, a federal study group known as the
National Commission on Excellence in Education observed critically that high
school dropout rate rose to almost 30% by the late 1980s. In the light of the
Annual Education for All Global Monitoring Report, published by UNESCO, it has
been revealed that Nigeria, Pakistan, India, and Ethiopia, account for 23
million out of the world`s 77 million out off-school children. There are many
differences between the education systems of developed and developing
countries.
According to the World Food Programme, 66 million primary
school children go hungry every day, with 23 million hungry children in Africa
alone. Furthermore, 80 per cent of these 66 million children are concentrated
within just 20 countries. Additionally, 75 million school-age children (55 per
cent of them girls) do not attend school, with 47 per cent of them living in
sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the need to reduce hunger while increasing
school enrollment in these children is evident, and school feeding programmes
have been developed to target this multi-faceted problem.
Although Rwanda has sustained a strong political commitment to
improve education access and quality, placing the country on a planned
trajectory towards achieving quality basic education for all, the country is
far from reaching the goal of universal primary education, with only half the
children completing primary school. (EFA country profile 2012)
Drop out is an under-researched area, even though the problem
is prevalent. With EFA and MDGs targeting access to education, knowledge around
dropouts and studies such as this, can help illuminate some of the complexities
around dropping out and bring new insights to policy makers and educational
practitioners. By understanding dropout further there will be greater potential
to move towards a more meaningful notion of access. (Frances Hunt, May 2008)
The government of Rwanda has started, around 2010, the program
entitled one cup of milk per child dedicated to decrease malnutrition, as well
as dropout, among children in Rwandan primary schools.
The «One Cup of Milk Per Child programme has been
introduced in around 100 schools in Rwanda and is being expanded in
collaboration with MINAGRI.
This study is important because it brings together a range of
literature on dropout causes and its effects in a way that has not happened
before and discusses the possible influence that one cup of milk per child can
bring on children dropout.
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