Evaluating the impact of the capitation grant and the school feeding programme on enrollment, attendance and retention in schools: The case of Weweso circuit

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the impact of the capitation grant and school feeding programme on school enrollment, attendance and retention in Ghana. The paper used difference-indifference method by comparing changes in enrollment, attendance and retention between beforeand after, and between beneficiary schools (treatment) and non-beneficiary schools (control). It also ran Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to find the impact of the programmes on enrollment, attendance and retention for the 2001/2002 and 2008/2009 academic years. The study found from the regression results that the capitation grant had positive but not significant impact on enrollment. However, it can be said that the capitation grant caused an instantaneous increase in enrollment because it brought a one-time sharp increase and then settled. However, it did not have a significant impact on attendance and retention. It was also found out that the school feeding programme had positive and significant impact on school enrollment, attendance and retention. The study found out that the positive impact of the programmes was affected by the fees levied on school pupils by the Parent-Teacher-Association and the weather.