School attendance: demographic differences and the effect of a primary school meal programme in Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT In 2006, public schools in Kyrgyzstan introduced free meals for all primary school children as a nutrition and poverty measure. This paper attempts to assess how participation in the free meals programme affected the school attendance of primary and secondary school students. The analysis of demographic differences in schooling across income groups and the investigation of the effects of free meals on school attendance is performed using annual panel data from the Life in Kyrgyzstan survey from 2010 to 2013. The sample includes around 3,200 school students that were in Grades 1 and 9 the previous academic year. School attendance is measured in terms of number of weeks missed from school during the last academic year, reported by students’ parents. Results from panel regression models show that students participating in the programme have lower odds and lower rates of missing school in later years.