Meeting the dietary needs of adolescent boarding school students, a case study at Opoku ware senior high school in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

This work examined the dietary needs of adolescents who are boardersin a second cycle institutions in the Kumasi Metropolis. The specific objectives were to: outline the types of meals taken in the dining hall of the institutions; identify factors that determine the provision of adequate meals in the boarding institutions; and assess the perceptions of the students towards the meals taken at the dining hall of Opoku Ware Senior High School. The study employed mixed methods and used questionnaires and personal interviews to collect data on the dietary needs of the students from a sample of eighty students, ten kitchen staff and one tutor of the school. Data were meticulously gathered on key variables such as age, sex, and educational status of the kitchen staff using written questionnaires and double entered into SPSS version 16 installed on windows XP. The study revealed that meals provided at the dining hall for the students, contained all the important food groups, though the students were dissatisfied with the quality and quantity. The study also found out that inadequate and unreliable government subvention was a major constraint in the provision of adequate meals in boarding institutions in the country. It was also revealed that the students purchased other foods such as kenkey, banku, rice and beans whilst in school to supplement the meals provided at the dining hall. From the findings, recommendations made included the need for intensification of nutrition and health education in second cycle institutions on the consequences of meal skipping by the Ghana Health Services, so that these adolescent students could improve their concentration in class for better performance, having been adequately fed at the dining hall.