The impact of nutritional and socioeconomic status on academic performance of primary urban school children in northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

backgroundUrban school children are challenged from varying degrees of poverty, access to resources and health services ultimately impacting their academic performance. Educational success is complex highlighting that several factors may contribute to its outcome. Among these, undernutrition and socioeconomic status significantly impact academic performance. The interplay between these determinants and educational outcomes is particularly significant in developing countries such as northern Ethiopia. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often experience nutritional deficiencies that can adversely impact cognitive development leading for poor educational achievement. Thus, this research can fill existing gaps regarding the interaction between undernutrition and socioeconomic factors that enable to understand how they interact to affect children’s educational outcomes. In addition, the study will provide practical implications for policymakers and educators in Ethiopia as it enables them for developing more effective educational policies that address unique challenges faced by urban school children in northern Ethiopia. Therefore, our study aimed to assess predictors of academic performance among primary school students to address the multifaceted issues and develop effective interventions.

methodThis institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in three of seven primary public schools. Simple random sampling technique were employed to select the schools and proportional allocation was done to each school to draw a total of 399 study participants. An interviewer administered questionnaire were used to gather socioeconomic data from the children’s legal guardians. Academic performance was evaluated using the average scores from all subjects over two semesters obtained from school rosters. Nutritional status was assessed via anthropometric measurements with Height-for-Age (HAZ), Weight-for- Age (WAZ) and Body Mass Index-for-Age (BAZ) calculated according to the WHO 2007 standard reference guidelines. WHO Anthro version 3.2.2 was used for the analysis and interpretation of nutritional status. Data were entered, cleaned and validated using Epi Data version 3.1 and subsequently analyzed using SPSS version 24. A bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were done to determine candidate variables and significantly associated factors respectively. Variables with p-value of ≤ 0.05 with 95% confidence interval in the multivariate model were considered as factors associated with the outcome variable.

resultThe mean academic performance of study participants was 71.65 (SD = 12.63). The prevalence of stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight was 23.8%, 34.0%, 24.0% and 4.3% respectively. In the adjusted analysis, age of child (AOR = 2.26, 95% CL: 1.39–3.67), head of household (AOR = 2.79, 95% CL: 1.55–5.04), absenteeism (AOR = 1.73, 95%CL: 1.07–2.79), preschool attendance (AOR = 1.47, 95% CL: 0.93–2.31) and monthly income (AOR = 1.67, 95% CL: 1.02–2.74) were significantly associated with educational achievement.

conclusionUndernutrition particularly stunting remains a significant public health issue that might negatively affect academic performance. While undernutrition has showed association in the bivariate logistic regression, it does not adversely affect the children’s academic performance. Conversely, age of child, head of household, monthly income, school attendance and preschool enrollment significantly impacted educational outcomes suggesting that interventions should focus on these factors in collaboration with stakeholders, teachers, parents and the community. Yet this finding highlights the potential aims for intervention at primary public schools, further research is needed to comprehensively understand which factors reduced urban primary public school children’s academic performance.