A Study to assess the Knowledge and Attitude of teachers regarding mid-day meal programme at selected Government primary schools of Kollegal Taluk

 

Mr. Vishakantamurthy D. G.*

Principal, JSS School of Nursing, Kollegal

 

ABSTRACT:

The mid-day meal programme is just what the name implies-providing cooked meals in schools. The idea is simple; the impact significant. Teachers play a vital role in implementation and monitoring of mid-day meal programme. For implementation and efficient monitoring, the teachers should possess adequate knowledge regarding the mid-day meal programme and should have positive attitude towards the mid-day meal programme.¹ It is the responsibility of the teachers to provide a hygienically cooked, balanced meal to children. So, this study is intended to assess the knowledge and attitude of government primary school teachers regarding midday meal programme at selected Government primary schools of Kollegal taluk. A descriptive approach was adopted. The samples consist of 50 teachers were selected using purposive sampling technique from selected Government primary school. The data collection was made through semi structured questionnaire and 5-point Likert’s attitude scale which was designed to assess the knowledge and attitude. Content validity of the structured knowledge and attitude questionnaire was established after consultation with subject experts. The study shows that 58% of the samples belong to the age group between 31-40 years and majority of 78% samples are females and 84% were TCH/D. Ed. Qualification, 48% of teachers had 11-15 years of experience and 62% of teachers have not undergone any in-service education. The overall findings of the study clearly showed that the primary school teachers had moderate knowledge score (58.66%) and positive attitude (63.5%). the overall mean knowledge score was 58.66%. The respondent’s mean attitude score was 61.34% in positive statements and 66.13% in negative statements and the overall mean attitude score was 63.5%. The demographic variables analyzed in this study, age, educational status, experience, source of information and in-service education were found to have significant association with knowledge and attitude scores. There was no significant association between, gender and type of diet with knowledge and attitude scores.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The school is an educational institution where groups of pupils pursue defined studies at defined levels; receive instructions from one or more teachers.

 

 

The school health service is one of the aspects of community health nursing, it refers to providing need based comprehensive services to pupils to promote and protect their health, control diseases and maintain their health. The school Health committee (1961) recommended that school children should be assured of at least one nourishing meal. The main objective of this recommendation was to combat malnutrition and improve the health status of the school children. In view of the limited finances in India, it is recommended that, the school meal should provide at least one third of the daily calorie requirement and about half of daily protein requirement of the child. The mid-day meal programme is the outcome of the school health committee recommendation (1961). It was launched in 1961 by ministry of education. The programme was launched to enhance the admissions and to retain students to improve literacy and also to improve health status of children.²

 

OBJECTIVES:

1.     To assess the knowledge of government primary school teachers regarding mid-day meal programme.

2.     To assess the attitude of government primary school teachers regarding mid-day meal programme.

3.     To find out the association between knowledge scores with selected demographic variables.

4.     To find out the association between attitude scores with selected demographic variables.

 

ASSUMPTIONS:

Assumptions of the study are:

1.     Government primary school teachers may have some knowledge regarding mid-day meal programme.

2.     Government primary school teachers may have positive attitude towards mid-day meal programme.

 

VARIABLES OF THIS STUDY:

The variables of the study were:

·       Knowledge and attitude regarding mid-day meal programme.

·       Age in years, gender, educational qualification, year of experience, type of diet, source of information, in-service education.

 

DELIMITATIONS:

The study is delimited to:

1.     It is delimited to the government primary school teachers who are willing to participate in the study.

2.     The study is further delimited to only those teachers who are working in Government primary schools which comes under kollegal taluk.

 

CONCEPTUAL/THEORETICAL FRAME WORK:

The conceptual framework for the present study is based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1996). The model focuses on cognitive, perceptual and modifying factors and participation in health promotion behaviour. The model also identifies factors that influence the health promotion activities.³

 

METHODOLOGY:

RESEARCH APPROACH/DESIGN:

Research approach used in this study is descriptive survey approach. Study refers to non-experimental research that focuses on obtaining information regarding the knowledge and attitude of teachers regarding Mid-day meal programme.

 

SETTING OF THE STUDY:

The study subjects were selected from the selected Government Primary Schools at kollegal taluk, Chamarajanagar District; Viz, National Primary School, Mudgunda, Kamagere.

 

POPULATION:

In this study, population consisted of teachers working in selected Government Primary Schools at Kollegal taluk.

 

SAMPLE:

The present study comprises of 50 teachers working in selected Government Primary Schools at Kollegal taluk.

 

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

In the present study, purposive sampling technique was adopted.

 

INSTRUMENT USED FOR THE STUDY:

A structured knowledge questionnaire and 5-point attitude scale (Likert’s type) was prepared to collect the data to achieve the objectives of the study based on the review of the literature and consultation with the experts. A thorough review of literature from journals, articles, published and un published research studies helped the researchers to develop the tools.

The instruments for the present study consisted of

·       Personal profile to collect the sample personal variables.

·       Structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the knowledge of teachers regarding Mid-day meal programme.

·       5-point attitude scale (Likert’s type) to assess the attitude of teachers regarding Mid-day meal programme.

 

TOOL:

A structured knowledge questionnaire and 5-point attitude scale (Likert’s type) use to assess the knowledge and attitude on mid-day meal programme.

 

Personal profile:

This part of the tool consists of questions related to demographic data consists of 7 items

 

Structured knowledge questionnaire:

Through the thorough review of literature, the structured knowledge questionnaire was prepared for the present study. The tool consists of 30 items related to knowledge regarding mid day meal programme. There were four alternative responses for each item and each correct response given by the participants was awarded a score of one. The total knowledge score ranged from 0-30.

 

5-point attitude scale (Likert’s type) This part of the tool consists of 20 statements related to attitude of government primary school teachers towards mid-day meal programme. For knowledge items each correct answer was given a score of ‘one’ and wrong answer a score of ‘zero.’ For attitude statements a range score from 5-1 for positive statements and reverse scoring of 1-5 was given for negative statements.

 

PROCEDURE FOR DATA COLECTION:

Formal administrative permission to conduct the study of a selected Government Primary Scholl in Kollegal Taluk was obtained from concerned authorities of education department. An informed consent was also obtained from the respondents indicating their willingness to participate in the study. The study samples were administrated with structured knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale and data was obtained. The data collection process was terminated after thanking each respondent for their participation and co-operation.

 

PLAN OF DATA ANALYSIS:

SECTION I: FREQUENCY AND PERCENTAGE DISRTIBUTION OF SUBECTS ACCORDING TO THEIR SELECTED PERSONAL VARIABLES:

Characteristics	Category	Respondents
		Number	Percent
Age (years)	20-30	04	08.00
	31-40	29	58.00
	41-50	15	30.00
	51-60	02	04.00
Gender	Male	11	22.00
	Female	39	78.00
Education	TCH/D. Ed	42	84.00
	D.Ed with Graduation	06	12.00
	B. Ed	02	04.00
	M.Ed	00	00.00
Teaching experience(years)	0-5	04	08.00
	6-10	11	22.00
	11-15	24	48.00
	16 and above	11	22.00
Type of diet	Vegetarian	16	32.00
	Non-vegetarian	03	06.00
	Mixed diet	31	62.00
Source of information	Books	01	02.00
	Mass media	12	24.00
	Head master instructions	25	50.00
	Training programmes	12	24.00
In-service education	Yes	19	38.00
	No	31	62.00

 

SECTION II: Overall Mean Knowledge and Attitude Scores of Respondents on Mid-day meal programme N=50

Aspects	Max. Score	Mean Score	Respondents scores (%)
Knowledge	30	17.16	Mean	SD
			58.66	17.16
Attitude	100	63.50	63.50	10.46

 

SECTION III: Chi-square between the level of knowledge and attitude of teachers with their selected personal variables.

	Knowledge X 2 Value	Attitude X 2 Value
Age (years) 20-30 31-40 41-50 51-60	19.92*	17.35*
Gender Male Female	2.68	0.33
Qualification TCH/D. Ed D.Ed with Graduation B. Ed	15.53*	15.53*
Teaching experience 0-5 6-10 11-15 16 and above	29.52*	25.77*
Type of diet Vegetarian Non- vegetarian Mixed	2.82	0.036
Source of information Books Mass media Head master instructions Training programmes	27.24*	22.52*
In-service education Yes No	10.56*	8.23*

 

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:

·       Findings in the present study that maximum number 29(58%) of teachers from selected Government Primary School belongs to the age group 31-40, and majority 39 (78%) of teachers were females, and 42(84%) teachers had TCH/D.ED. Maximum number 24(48%) of teachers had 11-15 years of teaching experience and 31(62%) teachers are consuming mixed diet. 31 (62%) teachers attended in-service education sessions. No similar literature could be retrieved to compare these studies.

·       The knowledge score of teachers overall mean knowledge was 58.66% and mean attitude score was 63.5%.

·       There was significant of association between knowledge and attitude with selected personal variables of teachers working in selected Government primary school at kollegal taluk was found to be significant for age, qualification, teaching experience, source of information and in-service education and there is no significant association between gender and type diet.

 

CONCLUSION:

A descriptive survey was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of teachers regarding mid-day meal programme in selected Government primary school at Kollegal. Data was collected from 50 teachers; collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in the form of graphs and tables.

 

The research findings had shown that there found to be significant association between the knowledge and attitude with selected personal variables of teachers working in selected Government primary school at kollegal taluk was found to be significant for age, qualification, teaching experience, source of information and in-service education and there is no significant association between gender and type diet

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Keeping in view of the findings of the present study, the following recommendations were made:

·       A comparative study can be conducted on knowledge regarding mid-day meal programme, among students and other non-teaching staffs

·       Planed teaching program can be conducted to enhance the knowledge and attitude of teachers regarding mid-day meal programme

·       A similar study may be replicated on a large sample for better generalization of results

 

KEY WORDS:

TCH: Teachers certificate higher

D. ED: Diploma in education

B. ED: Bachelor of education

M. ED: Master of education

SD: Standard deviation

Viz: Such as

 

REFERENCE:

1.      Julia blue. The government primary school mid-day meals scheme: an assessment of program implementation and impact in udaipur district. august 2005; Udaipur, India

2.      Ministry of Human resource development and department of school education and literacy. Minutes of the meeting of the program approval board for mid-day meal; 2007 March 1.

3.      Treece EW, Treece TT. Elements of Research in nursing. 1^st ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 1986.

 

 

 

 

Received on 02.06.2020         Modified on 13.07.2020

Accepted on 31.08.2020       ©A&V Publications All right reserved