Impact of Feeding Children in School: Evidence from Bangladesh

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the School Feeding Program (SFP) in Bangladesh. The evaluation is based on a number of surveys at the household, school and community levels in addition to achievement tests for the schoolchildren, carried out in late 2003. Some of the major findings are highlighted here. SFP has raised school enrollment by 14.2 percent, reduced the probability of dropping out of school by 7.5 percent, and increased school attendance by about 1.3 days a month. These results are obtained from econometric models that captured the impact of the SFP alone, isolating the effects of income and other factors.