Eating Habits Among Basic School Pupils grade

Nutrition has a strong physical, emotional and intellectual impact on a child’s ability to learn. Inadequate nutrition and hunger have negative effects on learning, behavior and productivity. However, few studies have investigated the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies among school children. A descriptive study was conducted in Elthora unit (hara 4, 12, 11, 22). The study population was the basic school children enrolled in the 7th and 8th classes. Their total number was 26453 The study aimed to determine the nutrition status, evaluation of dietary habits of school children and factors determined nutritional behavior of basic school children. To fulfill these aims, across-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 316 school children from six different schools, aged between 12-17 years. These were selected by multistage random selection of schools, followed by random selection of students within the school, according to the following formulas: N= Z2 x P x Q D2 n= Z2 * S2 D2 The data was collected by administrating a structured questionnaire to collect information to their eating habits and food preference. 7 Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), and the data were depicted in table. The study found that, 46, 8% from the students were take three meals per day whilst 8, 2% took one meal per day. Also there are 65, 8% of the student got their meals from their home and school whilst 23, 7% from the market. The study showed that 40, 5% of the students eat ice cream and drink cola, and 26, 6% took local putty from the street seller. The study showed that 75, 6% of the food taken in the school was protein whilst 8, 2% was vegetables’. According to these finding the following recommendations were set. 1- Educational nutritional programs should be included in basic schools curricula. 2- School education sessions should focus on how student select their food, to ensure a balanced diet. 3- Schools should pay more attention to what is sold to students in the areas of food and drinks and exert more control on food premises and catering. 4- Street food hookers would not find access to school