Nutritional Status and School Achievements in a Rural Area of Anti-Atlas, Morocco

Abstract

Nutritional status is the best indicator of the global well-being of children. However, malnutrition affects physical growth, cognitive development, physical work capacity, and it consequently influences human performance and health. The present study was designed to identify factors that may influence the nutritional status and educational achievements of the children in a rural area of ANTI Atlas of Morocco. The nutritional status of 162 children (12 to 15 years of age) was assessed by nutritional anthropometry and compared with tables of weight-for-age and height-for-age z-scores (WAZ and HAZ) identifying wasting and stunting, respectively. A questionnaire was developed to collect information about socio-economic and demographic status of the children’s families. Also, educational achievements were assessed by their score in mathematics. A total of 162 children (64 boys and 98 girls), aged 12 –15 years. Results revealed 22.8% of stunting and 35.2% of wasting. Child age (p = 0.027), illiteracy of the mother (p = 0.004) was determinant factors with wasting. Stunting was significantly associated with gender (p = 0.03) and parents’ employment (p = 0.009). However, using logistic regression analysis, the results showed that stunting (p = 0.04) and mother level of education (p = 0.032) were significantly correlated with school achievements.In this area of study, malnutrition remains a major problem among adolescents’ school performances, which can affect their future. The main causes of malnutrition seem to be the bad weaning practices among school children and cultural attitudes of food. The educational achievements of school children are influenced by maternal education and stunting

Nutritional Status and Educational Performance of School-Aged Children in Lalibela Town Primary Schools, Northern Ethiopia

“…Children who have mothers with secondary and above educational status have more than two times higher English, Amharic, and average semester scores given that all of the other variables in the model are held constant. This study finding is similar with a study done in Morocco, Malaysia, Iran, and Hawa Gelan, Southwest Ethiopia [15,[19][20][21]. This signifies the importance of educating females in improving the child nutritional status as well as academic achievement.…”

“…This difference could be due to the sociodemographic and geographic differences. The magnitude of stunting in this study is greater than the study done in a rural area of Morocco which was 22.8% [19].…”

The Relationship between Nutritional Status and Educational Achievements in the Rural School Children of Morocco

“…This is consistent with what is observed in the literature since, also noted that there is no significant relationship between academic achievement of children and their nutritional status [14]. Grantham-McGregor, et al by cons reviewed the literature and found that early stunting (HAZ < -2 SD from median) and poverty in the first five years of life were associated with lower subsequent cognitive abilities, school achievement, and productivity in adult life [16].…”

“…Possible explanations are the lack of adequate complementary infant feeding both quantitatively and qualitatively. It also appears that the transition to family meals is not always beneficial to the child and that food diversification is associated with the growth of children [14]. We note respectively 30.1% of girls and 38.7% of boys rated as poor for math and 17.1% of girls and 37.3% of boys rated as poor to average, so boys appear less successful than girls.…”

Health risk behaviours amongst school adolescents: protocol for a mixed methods study

“…The focus of health education is to teach the skills that enable students to make healthy choices and avoid health-risk behaviours [14]. Poor health related behaviours, as well as malnutrition and limited knowledge about nutrition have been reported in studies conducted among Moroccan adolescents [12, 15, 16]. A study conducted in Morocco, evaluating the content of school textbooks in relation to health lessons, concluded that the lessons in these textbooks are inadequate, inaccurate, or out of date, and hence need improvement [17].…”