Nutritional status of children is an important component of primary health care. School age isrna period of rapid growth in human development when nutritional demand is increased. In thisrndescriptive cross sectional comparative study the nutritional status of children, dietaryrndiversity status and food composition of the food given to the children who were involved inrnthe feeding program were assessed from 10 different primary schools of Addis Ababa ofrnwhich 280 students were recruited for the study. From the study results prevalence of wastingrnamong the feeding group was found to be 7.1% and for the non-feeding it was 10%, 5.6%rnwere underweight from the feeding group and 10.5% from the non feeding group. Thernprevalence of stunting for the feeding group was found to be 23.6% and for the non-feedingrnit was 16.5%. This study found that the dietary diversity score were influenced byrneducational status of the parents/caregivers (p-vale, 0.000). Children from the feeding grouprnhad better food diversity profile than those who were not involved in the program. Most ofrnthe school meals composition was not sufficient to meet the children's need though they needrnnutrient and energy dense foods. From the present study the prevalence of acute malnutritionrnwas found to be low and chronic malnutrition was medium in terms of public healthrnsignificance. The nutritional status of the school children involved in the feeding programrnwas different from those who were not involved in the program even though the differencernwas not statistically significant. The food composition served for the children in the feedingrnprogram was analyzed and its protein content was adequate but it did not fulfill the dailyrnrequirement of most of the nutrients and energy requirement. School feeding program shouldrnbe implemented along with the school curriculum for primary schools at the national level tillrncitizens will able to insure individual-household food security.rnKey Words: nutritional status; anthropometry; school feeding, dietary diversity; foodrncomposition.