STUDENTS' SATISFACTION WITH MEALS IN CATEGORY A & B SCHOOLS UNDER THE FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM POLICY IN ACCRA, GHANA

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to compare students' satisfaction with school meals in category A&B schools under the free senior high school program policy in Accra, Ghana.

Methods:A comparative study design was carried out with a sample size of 450 students in category A&B schools Category A (Presbyterian Boys SHS, and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS), Category B (Ghanata SHS and West African SHS). Simple random sampling technique was used during data collection. Structural equation model was used to analyze the significance difference of the objective of the study.

Results:According to the findings, 84% of the respondents at Presec revealed that they are not satisfied with the meals served at the dining hall. On the contrary, 67% of students at Ghanata are satisfied with the meals served at the dining hall. Results from WASS and Aquinas indicated that, 60% and 59% of students respectively are not satisfied with the meals served at the dining hall. The model informed that the most influential variable for determining meal enjoyment was quantity as a 1.975 increase in meal quantity corresponded to a one unit increase in enjoyment of meal. The other important variables were school category and taste of meals which also had positive values of 0.37 and 0.044. These variables were significant according to the model as the significance was less than the p-value of 0.05.

Conclusion: The study concludes on investigating the challenges of integrating locally sourced, cost-effective food items might yield valuable information for ethical and community-supported meals under the free senior high school policy.