EULOGIO AMANG RODRIGUEZ

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE EFFECTS OF MALNUTRITION

ON CHILDREN’S LEARNING

A research paper presented to

Mr. Carlito Biares

Professor

In fulfilment

of the requirements of the subject

Communicative Proficiency in Business Correspondence

and Research Writing

By

Angela C. Garcia

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology major in Food Technology

July 15, 2022

 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Malnutrition on children is a common health problem, it is a serious condition that occurs when a
person’s diet doesn't contain the right amount of nutrients. Undernourished children may
experience a poor process of intellectual development, failure to grow at the expected rate, and
changes in behavior, such as appearing unusually irritable, sluggish or anxious which can affect
the learning process of the child. But what exactly is the reason why a child develops
malnutrition? And in what way will this impact their learning? In this case, we should not let the
children suffer from this condition and learn how we can prevent this from happening.

Background of the Study

The global health issue of malnutrition has become increasingly urgent as millions of children
are killed or disabled annually. A further million individuals are also stunted intellectually and
productively as a result of malnutrition. Nutritional status of children is typically assessed based
on dietary, anthropometric, biochemical and physical characteristics, including weight, in
relation to height or age, which indicates the degree of underweight or wasting. Children require
adequate nutrition for growth and development as food is the most fundamental need of life.

According to Mother and Child Health and Education Trust (2019), children who do not reach
their optimum height or consistently experience bouts of weight loss during childhood are
affected in the long term in numerous ways. They do not reach their optimum size as adults (and
so may have less physical capacity for work), their brains are affected (resulting in lower IQs)
and they are at greater risk of infection (which kills many children during their early years).

Poor nutrition has a negative impact on a child's learning capacity and physical development. It
was discovered that malnourished children are 20% less likely to be literate than children who
received appropriate nourishment. Furthermore, malnourished youngsters are 7 percent more
prone to make errors in fundamental arithmetic.

According to several studies, low birth weight is associated with repeating grades or poor
performance in school. Sleep patterns can be affected by malnutrition as well, making a child too
tired to do much in school. At a young age, the brain also develops rapidly. Brain development is
hindered if the right nutrients are not consumed, leading to long-term learning difficulties.

The nutritional deficiencies suffered by malnourished children while they were still growing
cause lifelong physical and cognitive impairments.
Statement of the Problem

This study is to aims to determine the effects of malnutrition in children’s learning and also to
understand the impacts of malnutrition in the health and lives of the children. Specific questions
that the researcher aims to answer are the following:

1. What are the causes of a malnourished children?

2. What are the impacts of malnutrition in children?
3. How malnutrition can affect the learning of a children?
4. What are the recommendations to solve the phenomenon?

Theoretical Framework

This study was anchored on the concept of “The Center on Hunger and Poverty” (2016) reported
that persistent or involuntary lack of food over time may result in malnutrition. Mild-to-moderate
malnutrition can be a developmental risk factor. Malnutrition can limit a child’s ability to
comprehend even basic skills and weaken overall learning potential. Children from food
insufficient households may not perform as well on academic achievement tests as children from
food sufficient households.

The lack of food can cause students to repeat a grade in school and to be tardy or absent from
school, which may affect their academic performance.

Porter (2016) analyzed the effect of the 1984 drought shock on the long-term indicators of child
nutrition health using data from the first round of the survey that is used. But the first stages of
empirical models in this paper expand her analysis by estimating the effects of localized rainfall
shocks on the long- term nutritional status using data from the different cohort of children.
Classified into three periods: pre-school age, school age and post-school age. In the preschool
period, the parents invest in the health of the child in the form of nutrition, health care and other
treatments. The health of the child in this period could also be influenced by factors beyond the
control of the family like weather shocks and availability of health care services. In the second
period, parents decide whether they send the child to school or to child labor. In the third period,
the child’s works and earns his/her own income, while parents retire and consume the return of
the assets they saved during the earlier period and possible transfer from their children.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study is to find out and describe why there are many children are associated with
malnutrition complications. To bring awareness on how malnutrition can affect the learning of
the children and how we can solve this problem to lessen those children who experiencing a lack
of food adequate nutrition.
Significance of the Study

More specifically, this study would benefit the following:

Nutritionist – The result of this study would lead the nutritionist to evaluate more about
malnutrition and provide more information on how to prove it.

Teachers – The result of this study would be a guide in formulating plans for improving
nutrition activities in the class.

Parents – The result of this study would provide awareness to the parents to give great
importance to the right food that must be included in every meal of their children to ensure good
health.

Children – The result of this study would develop the awareness of eating well- balanced diet
and encourage the children to practice eating nutritious food and discourage their selves from
eating processed foods rather than vegetables.

Scope and limitations of the Study

This research study focuses on how malnutrition affects the children’s learning. The data
collection will be the children’s who are attending classes and under malnourished. This study
wanted to assess malnutrition in Apolonia F. Rafael Elementary that affects the learning of their
children. The facts would be limited to the information gathered from the respondents through a
set of questions and supplemented by informal interview.

Definition of Terms

For the purpose of clarification, the important terms used in this study have been defined:

Absenteeism - The practice of regularly staying away from work or school without good reason.

Academic Performance - This refers on how pupils perform or act in the classroom.

Malnourished - This refers to the children who suffered malnutrition.

Malnutrition - A serious condition that happens when your diet does not contain the right
amount of nutrients.

Nutrition – The process whereby food taken into the body nourishes it, promotes it, growth and
repairs its worm-out tissues.

Phenomenon - A fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose
cause or explanation is in question.
Sluggish - Lacking energy or alertness.

Stunting - to hinder the normal growth, development, or progress.

CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literatures and Studies

This chapter presents foreign and local reports, articles, and research journal publications
featuring related literatures and studies that supported the present study. It discusses relevant
issues and concerns, findings and recommendations of other studies to compliment results of this
study.

Foreign Literature

A hunger-stricken child is not only unable to enroll in school at the right age but also cannot
attend properly even if enrolled. Besides, such children are also likely to quit school because
they have to deal with their immediate subsistence needs before they get ready for schooling.
Thus, low school enrollment, low class attendance and high student drop-outs are recurring
problems in child education among poor households especially in areas of high food insecurity.
Due to these reasons the level of education attainment has also been low in many developing
countries although both private and social returns to education are recognized to be high
(Adelman, Gilligan et al. 2012).

School feeding contributes to the education and well-being of children. A hungry child does not
grow, cannot learn as well and faces many health risks in the future. School feeding can bring
children into school and out of hunger. School feeding can bring children into school and out of
hunger. Strong partnerships can increase factors that pull children to school. It is a springboard
for many positive outcomes for poor children and their families. School feeding programs
engage parents and communities in the promotion of public health, education and the creation of
an independent future. Few safety-net programs provide so many multi-sector benefits-
education- gender equality, food security, poverty alleviation, nutrition and health-in one single
intervention (World Food Program, 2016).

Local Literature

In the Philippines, malnutrition remains a significant public health concern with a staggering 3.4
million children who are stunted (short for their age) and more than 300,000 children under 5
years who are severely wasted. This continues to be a serious child health problem, with the
Philippines being highly disaster-prone. The risk of malnutrition increases in the aftermath of
emergencies (UNICEF Philippines, 2017).

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, due to the lack of nourishing food sources
and nutrition education, hunger and malnutrition are still dominant in the Philippines. In fact,
these problems have been linked with high rates of poverty and an ever growing population.
Protein deficiency is one of the leading malnutrition problems in the Philippines and over three
million children suffer from protein deficiency, which causes these children to be severely
underweight and suffer from stunted growth.

The Department of Education (DepED) has advocated school feeding programs for the past years
to improve the nutritional status of the undernourished pupils and students. This Order is being
issued to guide the regional, division, and school officials in implementing school-initiated
and/or sponsored feeding programs, thereby ensuring that the objectives of the program are
achieved. The DepED implements the School Feeding Programs (SFPs) to address the
undernutrition problem among the learners in order to improve school attendance and to reduce
dropout in schools. The SFPs may be school-initiated or sponsored by individuals, non-
government organizations (NGOs) and private companies.

Foreign Studies

Studies were conducted on malnutrition focusing on: strategies for control; effects on the health
of individual and its impact on the ability to learn and perform academically in school of school
children and students. On the effect of malnutrition on health, Rice et. al. (2010) conducted a
study on the malnutrition as an underlying cause of childhood deaths associated with infectious
diseases in developing countries. Findings from cohort studies and case control studies were
reviewed and summarized. The study found out that the strongest and most consistent relation
between malnutrition and an increased risk of death was observed for diarrhea and acute
respiratory infection

Chepkwony et.al (2013) conducted a study on School Feeding Program and Its Impact on
Academic Achievement in ECDE in Roret Division, Bureti District in Kenya. The purpose of
this study is to establish the relationship, if any, between type of school and success of school
feeding program, and to determine the relationship, if any, between school feeding program and
academic achievement among ECD children.

Local Studies

Inter-Agency Regional Analysts Network (2016) Stunting indicates a failure to achieve one’s
innate potential for height. It usually reflects the persistent, cumulative effects of poor nutrition
that often span across generations. It is caused by a failure to receive adequate food intake and is
also affected by recurrent and chronic illness. Inadequate nutrient intake during the first two
years of life not only affects growth, but also negatively impacts brain development and the
immune system.

Cost of Hunger: Philippines Save the Children (2016) Effects of Under nutrition on Repetition
Based on Department of Education data for the academic year 2013-2014, an estimated 48,597
students in primary and secondary school repeated their grade levels due to stunting. Stunting
was the cause of grade-level repetition for 15% of the 330,418 repeater students during 2013-
2014. The grade-level repetition rate was 33% higher among students who suffered from under
nutrition (stunting) before the age of five years old than those who did not. Repetition was 1.6%
among children who were undernourished, while it was only 1.2% for those who did not suffer
under nutrition

CONCLUSION

This study reaches the following conclusion. The reason why children are experiencing
malnutrition is the lack of awareness on how to give a child a nutritional balance and also the
income of the parents are not enough to support the needs of their children especially the foods
which will greatly affect their living.

Malnutrition produces conditions of poverty by reducing the economic potential of the

population and likewise, poverty reinforces malnutrition by increasing the risk of food insecurity.
A person's food buying habits may influence the quality of their dietary intake regardless of
income level. Low income is associated with poor nutrition at all stages of life compared with
households with higher incomes.

It implied further that everybody is possible to become malnourished when they will not meet
the required food that is essential to their body. This means that everybody should be aware of
what they intake in their body especially in choosing the right food. It implied further that the
children does not require the food to avid malnutrition. This means that the most food they intake
is lack of vitamins and minerals that is essential to their body. This implied further that the
children had low performance in school because they are not physically fit. This means that they
cannot compete to their classmates and they are always behind.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the following findings and conclusions, the researcher offered the following
recommendations.

In order to prevent malnutrition cases, the school principal should provide programs to help the
children and educate them along with their parents about healthy eating habits. Any parent can
be a good role model for their children’s nutrition, they should teach their kids what/how to
maintain a good diet to improve and increase their children’s learning potential. Each group of
children in an early childhood education and care program should be assigned a teacher who has
a bachelor’s degree with specialized education related to children’s nutrition.
Education programs for teachers should provide them with a stronger and more specific
foundational knowledge of the development of children’s social and affective behavior, thinking,
and their learning.

Malnutrition must be controlled through basic training offered by government officials and the
Department of Health. For a good education to be maintained, the Departments of Health and
Education must work together.

The Department of Education must continue the feeding programs for malnourish children in
schools

REFERENCES

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Amitabh D. (2015). The Center on Hunger and Poverty.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352166182_Center_on_Hunger_and_Poverty

Chepkwony, B. C. (2013). School Feeding Program and Its Impact on Academic Achievement in

ECDE in Roret Division, Bureti District in Kenya | Semantic Scholar. School Feeding

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