BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.7, No.1, 2021 934 

 

 

 

 

Nutrition Improvement Program for Compulsory Ed-

ucation Students in Rural Area: Effects of Meal Plan 

on Pupils’ Physical Health and Mental Health 

By Yu, J.F., & Zhao, Q.R. 

Correspondence to: Zhao, Q.R., Associate Professor, College of Economics and 

Management, China Agricultural University, China. Email: 

zhaoqiran@cau.edu.cn 

HIS article is based on the research data of 49 schools from three north-

west provinces in China that have implemented the “Nutrition Im-

provement Program for Compulsory Education Students in Rural Area 

“(2015), using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Propensity 

Score Matching (PSM) methods to study the influence of enterprise and 

school meal plan on children’s physical and mental condition through the 

development state like height and weight, including the status like anemia, 

since the implementation of the Plan in 2011. The research indicators and re-

sults are as follows: 

 Indicator description: The Body Mass Index Z score (BMI z-

scores) and Height for Age Z score (HAZ-scores) are used to 

evaluate the physical development of children; The anemia rate 

and HB(hemoglobin) value are used to reflect the anemia status 

of children; and the Mental Health Test(MHT) is used to measure 

the mental health of children. 

 Analysis of regression results: This paper adopts the OLS regres-

sion estimation method，and the results show that after adding a 

series of personal and family variables, whether school supply 

meals or not have no significant impact on BMI index and HAZ 

index, but it has a significant impact on the HB value and anemia 

rate, and it also has a significant correlation with the psychologi-

cal score. What’s more, using the PSM method to control the 

endogeneity, which further proves whether the school supply 

meal or not has a significant effect on the mental health of stu-

dents, and also including the specific learning anxiety, self-blame 

tendency, and physical symptoms. 

 Research conclusions: In terms of physical development, there is 

no significant difference between school meals and corporate 

T 



 

Vol.7, No.1, 2021 935 

meals; in terms of anemia and mental health, students who re-

ceive school meals is worse than those receiving corporate meals. 

 Policy recommendations: In order to further improve the imple-

mentation of the plan, it is necessary to consider the reasonable 

design of the proportions of different types of meals and the nutri-

tional combination of foods in different meal plan; in terms of nu-

trition, school meals need to pay attention to providing sufficient 

meat and other iron-rich elements food, corporate meals should 

increase the supply of vegetables or fruits. 

 

Source: Education & Economy, 2020; 36(4):30-39.