Abstract: Previous studies on all aspects of school health programs gave only little information on nutrition and physical education despite their importance characteristics of; enduring, effective and economical interventions towards the prevention of malnutrition. This study gave a comprehensive report on nutrition and physical education in primary schools. Nutrition teaching aids along with meal policies at schools were also elucidated. This study was conducted in 2010 among 387 teachers selected by multistage sampling from 26 public and 13 private primary schools in 3 semi-urban communities in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. Using a structured questionnaire, the researchers collected data regarding the methods of disseminating nutrition and physical education at schools, time allocation with perceived barriers to their proper implementation. Availability of nutrition teaching aids and meal policies at respondent schools were also documented. Data collected was analysed using SPSS version 16 statistical software. The result showed that larger percentage of the respondents integrated nutrition lessons to a great extent with the home economics (212, 54.8%), agricultural sciences (189, 48.8%), health and physical education (210, 54.2%) courses. Insufficient instructional time and fund were mentioned as major barriers to effective implementation of both nutrition and physical education. The reported time spent on nutrition education at public schools was significantly lower than that of private ones (p=0.000, t= 4.30), while, on the other hand, the time reported to be invested by the public school teachers on sports activities by their pupils was significantly higher than that by the private school teachers (p =0.000, t = 5.83). Regarding meal policies; (227) 80.5% of teachers at public schools compared to 57(54.3%) at private ones responded affirmatively to the policy on initial medical screening of food vendors prior to their employment while 251(89.0%) from public school had policy on the assessment of the appearance of food provided by food vendors as compared to 68(64.8%) from private schools (X2 = 26.91; p=0.000, and X2 = 31.053; p = 0.000 respectively). Similarly, 254(90.1%) of respondents at public schools compared to 67(63.8%) in private ones indicated that their school ensured that varieties of food are provided for pupils by the food vendors. (X2 =37.302; p=0.000). Reported time spent on nutrition and physical education at schools is lower than the recommended standard. Inadequate time and funding were barriers to effective nutrition and physical education within the school system. Routine medical screening for food vendors is absent in most of the schools.Abstract: Previous studies on all aspects of school health programs gave only little information on nutrition and physical education despite their importance characteristics of; enduring, effective and economical interventions towards the prevention of malnutrition. This study gave a comprehensive report on nutrition and physical education in primary schools...Show More
