Supporting youths to continue further education in emerging nations: food for education intervention or education for food policy?
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 22 July 2021
Issue publication date: 8 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Food security for students is very important if they are to achieve both quantitative and qualitative success in their education and later career. Consequently, “food for education (FFE)” intervention is provided for poorer students who are in primary school in many developing countries. This has helped to achieve the objective of universal education. In absence of a food security programme from the secondary provision, students from poorer families are forced to discontinue their education. For this reason, the success of FFE intervention has been criticised as unsustainable. This paper aims to explore a food security model that can lead to the sustainable development of education in developing nations.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study collected primary data from students who were being educated in Bangladesh and receiving “FFE” intervention. In total, 576 respondents (equal number of boys and girls) were selected from six schools located in urban and rural areas. Secondary data were accessed from the archives of the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) and the World Bank. The paper adopts a descriptive analysis method for primary and secondary sources to report the findings.
Findings
Free schooling supported by “FFE” intervention is the key to achieving education for all (EFA) targets. Since its inception, 93% of students who received an FFE intervention have at least completed their primary school education. The success of FFE has encouraged the government to provide a massive intervention strategy which began in 2011. This helped to achieve the EFA target. Despite this success and while nearly 18% of FFE-intervened graduates have completed their secondary education, none went to higher secondary school, let alone tertiary level. The lack of food security was the main reason for youths not continuing with their further education.
Originality/value
The “FFE” programme may work well for children who are being educated since they do not shoulder any family responsibility. In reality, teenagers and adults in emerging nations should devote themselves to ensuring there is enough food for their families. This research presents a new policy option, labelled as “education for food (EFF)”, in order to retain this group in the education system. Being an advocacy model, this may trigger a discourse on how to create a balanced society where both hunger and education are taken care of and problems are solved.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author greatly acknowledges the comments made by the reviewers and Professor Stefano Bresciani (the editor- British Food Journal). Without their thorough input, the manuscript would not have been improved. The author would also like to express his gratitude to Professor Chris Ennew (Christine Ennew, OBE), University of Warwick, for her kind insights on how to deal with the reviewers' comments. The authors are also indebted to Mr. Woon Wee Kim Anthony (former Registrar, Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore), Ms. Morsheda Parvin and Mr. Md. Mahfuzur Rahaman (Bangladesh Open University) for their kind feedback. Finally, the authors thank the Asian Council of Science Editors for funding this project.
Citation
Alam, G.M. and Sulaiman, T. (2022), "Supporting youths to continue further education in emerging nations: food for education intervention or education for food policy?", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 3, pp. 853-870. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2021-0552
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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