Nutritional Status and Academic Performance of Selected Primary School Children in Ogun State

ADEWUNMI H.O & AGWO E.O, Volume 7 Issue 1, July 2026 Pages 29-38, Published: 2026-06-09

Abstract

Nutrition plays a crucial role in human immune function. This study examines nutritional status and academic performance of selected primary school children in Ogun State. This study was cross-sectional among 250 school children in Ewekoro Local Government Area, Ogun State. It explored the association between nutritional status and academic performance of selected primary school children. Anthropometry (weight & height) were determined which was imported into AnthroPlus software while academic performance was derived from pupils’ report cards. Socio-economic data was gotten through a structured questionnaire. Data was subjected to both inferential and descriptive statistical analysis, using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0). Socio-economic characteristics reflected 50.4% of the respondents were males, mostly between 5-10 years, from monogamous families. Body-Mass-Index for age showed 42.4% and 3.2% were mildly and moderately stunted, 32.0% were underweight, 3.6% and 4.0% has overweight and severely low. Academic performance showed that 69%, 13%, 18% were excellent, above average and below average, respectively. Anthropometric mean for weight and height was 28.36±6.63 and 1.36±0.13 for males, but 27.50±7.37 and 1.35±0.13 for females with statistical significance of p<0.05 for both variables. There was no statistical significance observed between socio-economic status and nutritional status. The study recommends nutrition education be organized to educate mothers and teachers