Impact Evaluation of School Health Programme in Primary Schools in Kwimba and Misungwi Districts
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IMPACT EVALUATION OF SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAMME IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KWIMBA AND MISUNGWI DISTRICTS By Samwel Bakari Mndolwa A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Public Administration and Management in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Master of Science in Health Monitoring and Evaluation Degree of Mzumbe University. 2017 CERTIFICATION We, the undersigned, certify that we have read and hereby recommend for acceptance by the Mzumbe University, a dissertation entitled; Impact Evaluation of School Health Programme in Primary Schools in Kwimba and Misungwi Districts, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for award of the degree of Master of Science in Health Monitoring and Evaluation of Mzumbe University. _______________________ Major Supervisor _______________________ Internal Examiner ________________________ External Examiner Accepted for the Board of School of Public Administration and Management _______________________________________________ DEAN - SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Samwel Bakari Mndolwa, declare that this dissertation is my original work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other university for a similar or any other degree award. Signature ________________________ Date___________________________ © This dissertation is a copyright material protected under the Berne Convention, the copyright Act 1999 and other International and national enactments, in that behalf, on intellectual property. It may not be reproduced by any means in full or in part, except for short extracts in fair dealings, for research or private study, critical scholarly review or discourse with an acknowledgement, without the written permission of Mzumbe University, on behalf of the Author. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The successful completion of this dissertation is a result of the support which I received from different people, who played a vital role in their respective parts. Probably without their support this work would not be of the quality it is, and would take a long period of time to be accomplished. My first appreciations go to Mzumbe University for granting me permission to conduct the study. Secondly, I acknowledge the support and supervision of Dr. Wilhelm Mafuru (PhD), my supervisor, who worked tirelessly to ensure I produce a standard and quality piece of work. His constructive comments, contributions, and his guidance in the writing of this report facilitated my work and also enabled me to successfully complete this work. Thirdly, I would like to send my sincere thanks to those lecturers of Mzumbe University who imparted me with the knowledge and skills on doing the research/ evaluation. I am also grateful to my research assistants/ data collectors for the efforts they made to ensure all the questionnaires reach the intended subjects, they are completely filled out, and returned to the researcher/ evaluator. Similarly, I am so thankful to those respondents who accepted to be involved in the study, and clearly and completely filled out the questionnaires which were provided to them. Special thanks go to my family for their tolerance, endurance, and prayers during the entire period of my studies, and my being away from them. Indeed they missed for long my presence and close care, though I appreciate the great role that was played by my wife Judith Dominick Shayo to the whole family especially to our son Gerson, and to our daughter Genovieve. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to three people. The first one is my Mother Agnes Shundi whom her presence has always been the driving force to the efforts I make both in school and in life. The second one is my lovely wife Judith Dominick Shayo for her love, care, support, advice, and encouragement to me. The third ones are my Son and Daughter – Gerson and Genovieve respectively as they are always the focus of my efforts. iv ACRONYMS CHERISH Championing Efforts Resulting in Improved School Health DHIS District Health Information System DSHCo District School Health Coordinator EFA Education for All EQAO Education Quality and Accountability Office FRESH Focusing Resources for Effective School Health Programme HGSFHP Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme MCH Maternal and Child Health MDGs Millennium Development Goals MoH Ministry of Health NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress RCH Reproductive and Child Health SHP School Health Programme SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science UBE Universal Basic Education UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children‟s Fund UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime WEC Ward Education Coordinators WFP World Food Programme WHO World Health Organization v (Source: Government of Pakistan, Islamabad in collaboration with UNESCO, February, 2010.) vi ABSTRACT This study aimed at evaluating the impact of School Health Programme (SHP) in primary schools with a focus on learning outcomes. The general objective of the evaluation study was to determine the learning outcomes of SHP to primary school children in the country, and its specific objectives were: to determine the contribution of SHP towards reduction of students‟ school dropout rate; to determine the contribution of SHP for improving academic performance to primary school children; and to examine the impact of SHP to the reduction of disease burden and overall improvement of health conditions of primary school children. The study was also guided by three hypotheses which were tested in the study. The hypotheses were: there is association between SHP and reduction of students‟ school dropout rate caused by diseases or health problems; there is association between SHP and improvement of academic performance to primary school children; and there is association between SHP and reduction of disease burden and overall improvement of heath conditions of primary school children. The approach used in this evaluation was summative, and the study used a quantitative observational cross sectional study as its evaluation design. The focus of measurement and evaluation in the programme theory was impact, and the dimensions used were the burden of disease, dropout rate, and learning outcomes which accounted for intermediate and dependent variables respectively. The study used cluster random sampling technique in the selection of study units, where the clusters were divisions, and wards. Data were collected using structured questionnaires which were distributed to 100 primary schools, 50 schools from each district of study. The analysis of inferential statistics was done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) analysis tool Version 20 by doing cross tabulation and chi square test for the purpose of testing the hypotheses developed. Also, the analysis was done using Excel Worksheet where tables and charts (bar charts) were developed for the purpose of fulfilling the specific objectives of the study. The findings have revealed positive changes in both districts. In Misungwi district school dropout rate caused by diseases or health problems has decreased from 4.43% in the year 2011 to 0.00% in 2016. The percentage of students who passed STD VII final examination has increased from 63.21 in the year 2011 to 78.87 in the year 2016, and the burden of disease has decreased from 15.93% in the 2011 to 7.21% in 2016. In Kwimba district school dropout rate caused by diseases or health problems has decreased from 5.31% in the year 2011 to 0.00% in the year 2016. The percentage of students who passed STD VII final exam has increased from 54.01 in the 2011 to 77.34 in 2016, and the burden of disease has decreased from 12.11% in the 2011 to 5.28% in 2016. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION .............................................................................................................. i DECLARATION ............................................................................................................... ii COPYRIGHT ..................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ viii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ xiii Chapter 1 .......................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 1 1.1: Background ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2: Statement of the Problem ...........................................................................................