Thought behind this journal

Keeping in view the Philosophy of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati ji, BCM College moves ahead with the mission to create through education a valuable asset to the nation in the form of talented and dedicated teachers who can help in the all round and homogeneous development of their students through 3 H’S (Head, Heart and Hand); 3 R’S (Reading, Rhetoric and Writing); and 5 C’S (Contact, Communicate, Compete, Culture and Character) We have the mission to develop the intellectual and creative faculties of our pupil teachers to enable them not only to with stand the changes in the field of education but also to lead by innovative initiatives. for the achievement of our mission research culture of the institute plays a vital role to achieve this mission ,So bcm college has taken initiative and launched its e-journal under the guidance of

Sh.Staya Nand Munjal ji(President)

Sh.S.K.Mehta (Secretary )

Sh.R.B Khanna,(Executive member)

Dr.Khushvinder kumar (Principal)

We hope and strongly believe, this will nurture research culture among creative and critical minds of teaching community, budding researchers and the ignited minds of our students.

Friday, October 01, 2010

A STUDY OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF ELEMANTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR NUTRITIONAL STATUS

A STUDY OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF ELEMANTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR NUTRITIONAL STATUS.                             
                         Mini Sharma (Lecturer) BCM College of Education,Ludhiana                                                          tony_vinayak@yahoo.co.in         

Abstract
The present study was undertaken to study the relation of academic achievement with the nutritional status of elementary school students. Sample of 200 pupils (only girls) were taken. Statistical techniques used were –Mean, Median, Mode, S.D, and Product Moment Correlation. Objectives of the study were to evaluate the food intake of school children with energy, carbohydrates, proteins and fats, to find out the anthropometric measurements like weight and height, to find out relation between food intake and anthropometric measurements, to assess the nutritional status of school girls of urban elementary schools of Ludhiana city, to find out the effect of nutritional status and anthropometric measurements on academic achievement of urban elementary school girl. The tools employed to collect the relevant data is MSU Nutriguide Computer Program for calculating food intake, Standardised Test: General Class room Achievement Test (GCAT) for classes 6th and 7th by Dr. A.K Singh and Dr (Mrs.) A.Sen Gupta, to ascertain the academic achievement of the urban elementary school girls, The anthropometric measurement that is body height was taken by using anthropometric rod and body weight was taken by using portable weighing machine. Investigator found that a significant and positive correlation exists between Anthropometric Measurements (i.e. weight and height) and Nutritional Status assessed by different nutritional variables. The study further revealed that a significant and positive correlation exists between Nutritional Status assessed by different nutritional variables and Academic Achievement. Further the study also revealed that a significant and positive correlation exists between Anthropometric Measurements (i.e. weight and height) and Academic Achievement.

  
Keywords-Nutritional status, Academic achievement

INTRODUCTION
Good nutrition is essential if one is to travel the road to good health.  Not only is good nutrition vital for the normal growth of the children but it helps to maintain the physical and mental fitness in adults throughout their life span. Nutrition is the combination of processes by which the living organism receives and utilizes the materials necessary for the growth and maintenance of the highest state of fitness.
Nutritional Status:-
                Good nutrition is the basic component of health. The state of nutrition is assessed by certain direct parameters like food intake, nutritional anthropometry etc. All these parameters furnish an opportunity for more thorough analysis of nutritional status.
Academic Achievement:-
Academic achievement has been considered as an important factor in educational life of students. It encourages the students to work hard and learn more. Academic achievement is core of wider term “educational growth” which means growth in all aspects. It refers to the knowledge attained and skills developed in the school subjects which are assessed by school authorities with the help of achievement tests which may be standardized or non-standardized.
 Nutritional Status And Academic Achievement: - Nutrition provides knowledge about food and nutritional requirements. If a person doesn’t take good food, he suffers from malnutrition. Generally children suffer from malnutrition because of inadequate nutrition, poverty and ignorance of the parents. Amongst all these factors nutrition plays a vital role. School children constitute one of the important segment of any nation, they account for over 20% of Indian population.
Also school age is a dynamic period of growth and development as children undergo physical, mental, emotional and social changes. Nutritional requirements especially at the age 10-12 years increase owing to the spurt in growth that occurs at puberty. Hence, more nutrients are required at this stage because the foundation for life time in health, strength, intellectual validity is laid during this period.                   
                 Nutritional insults during these periods retard the growth and hamper the brain development, which leads to poor cognitive development, impaired learning abilities and in later years results in poor scholastic achievements.             
The nutritional status of adolescent girls, the future mother, contributes significantly to the nutritional status of the community. It is thus important to assess their state of health and nutrition and their functional competence in order to ensure their improved physical and mental development and present study is an eye opener and step in this direction so that teachers, students and parents become aware about the various concepts regarding nutrition.
Objectives
  • To evaluate the food intake of school children with energy, carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
  • To find out the anthropometric measurements like weight and height.
  • To find out relation between food intake and anthropometric measurements.
  • To assess the nutritional status of school girls of urban elementary schools of Ludhiana city.
  • To find out the effect of nutritional status and anthropometric measurements on academic achievement of urban elementary school girls.
Hypotheses 
  • There is significant relationship between nutritional status and anthropometric measurements.
  • There is significant relationship between nutritional status and academic achievement of elementary urban school girls. 
  • There is significant relationship between anthropometric measurements and academic achievement of elementary urban school girls.
METHODOLOGY
Tools used:
  • MSU Nutriguide Computer Program was used for calculating food intake. 
  • Standardised Test: General Class room Achievement Test (GCAT) for classes    6th and 7th by Dr.     A.K Singh and Dr (Mrs.) A.Sen Gupta was used to ascertain the academic achievement of the urban elementary school girls.
  • The anthropometric measurement that is body height was taken by using anthropometric rod and body weight was taken by using portable weighing machine.
Sample of the study: The data pertaining to 200 urban elementary girl students were collected from the different schools of Ludhiana city.
Design: Descriptive survey method of investigation was employed in the present study. Descriptive statistics namely Mean, Median, Mode, S.D, Product Moment Correlation were calculated.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
                                                         Table A (1)
Relationship of Nutritional status with the Weight

Energy Intake
Protein Intake
Carbohydrate Intake
Fat Intake
Level of Significance
0.614
0.517
0.419
0.533
at  0.05

Table A (1) reveals that the value of coefficient of correlation between weight and energy intake, weight and Protein intake, weight and carbohydrate intake, weight and fat intake of elementary school girls is 0.614,0.517,0.419,0.533 respectively. These values of r are significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, there exists a significant and positive correlation between weight and Energy intake, weight and Protein intake, weight and carbohydrate intake and weight and fat intake.


Table A (2)
Relationship of nutritional status with the Height

Energy Intake
Protein Intake
Carbohydrate Intake
Fat Intake
Level of Significance
0.280
0.275
0.140
0.283
at  0.05

Table A (2) reveals that the value of coefficient of correlation between Height and energy intake, Height and Protein intake, Height and carbohydrate intake, Height and fat intake of elementary school girls is 0.280,0.275,0.140,0.283 respectively. These values of r are significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, there exists a significant and positive correlation between Height and Energy intake, Height and Protein intake, Height and carbohydrate intake and Height and fat intake.
Thus, Hypothesis (1) which states “There is significant relationship between Nutritional Status and Anthropometric Measurements” is accepted.
Table B
                 Relationship of Nutritional Status assessed by nutritional variables with the                              Academic Achievement

Energy Intake
Protein Intake
Carbohydrate Intake
Fat Intake
Level of Significance
0.836
0.686
0.646
0.683
At  0.05

The data in the Table (B) reveals that the value of coefficient of correlation between energy intake, Protein intake, carbohydrate intake, fat intake and academic achievement of elementary school girls is 0.836, 0.686, 0.646, and 0.683 respectively. These values of r are significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, there exists a significant and positive correlation between energy intake, intake, carbohydrate intake, fat intake, Protein intake, carbohydrate intake, fat intake and academic achievement of the subjects.
Thus, Hypothesis (2) which states “There is significant relationship between nutritional status and academic achievement of elementary urban school girls” is accepted.
Table (C)
Relationship of Anthropometric Measurements with the
Academic Achievement

Weight
Height
Level of Significance
0.650
0.267
at 0.05

The data in the Table (C) reveals that the value of coefficient of correlation between weight,Height and academic achievement of elementary school girls is 0.650 and 0.267. These values of r are significant at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, there exists a significant and positive correlation between weight, Height and academic Achievement.              
Thus, Hypothesis (3) which states “There is significant relationship between anthropometric measurements and academic achievement of elementary urban school girls” is accepted.
                Similar results have been quoted by the studies of Tanmeet Kaur (1993) ‘Nutritional Status and Academic Performance of rural school children’ (M.Sc. thesis, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, India) and Sonika Sharma (2000) ‘To study the impact of Nutrition Counseling on Nutritional Status and Academic Performance of school girls’. (M.Sc. thesis, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, India).               
CONCLUSIONS
This study reveals that a significant and positive correlation exists between Anthropometric Measurements (i.e. weight and height) and Nutritional Status assessed by different nutritional variables. The study further revealed that a significant and positive correlation  exists between Nutritional Status assessed by different nutritional variables and Academic Achievement. Further the study also revealed that a significant and positive correlation exists between Anthropometric Measurements (i.e. weight and height) and Academic Achievement.
REFERENCES  
Aggarwal, D.K., Upadhayay, S.K. and Aggarwal, K.N. (1989). Influence of malnutrition on cognitive development assessed by Piagetian tasks. Acta Paed Scand 78,: 115-72.
 Bogden, J. F. (2000). Fit, healthy and ready to learn: A school health policy guide. Alexandria (VA): NASBE.
Kaur, R. (2007). A study of academic achievement in relation to emotional intelligence and personality types. (M.Ed. dissertation) Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Kaur, S. (2004).Pre teacher’s performance in relation to their academic achievement and entrance test. (M.Ed. dissertation) Panjab University, Chandigarh.
www.ActionForHealthyKids.org. (2004). The Role of Sound Nutrition and Physical Activity in Academic Achievement.



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