The Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme is intended to not just provide children with ‘Food for Education’ that will encourage them to attend classes, it is also meant to make them healthy and strong so that they can achieve any future they want.
One such beneficiary of the programme is Amrish who studies in grade six at the GHPS government school at Chikkasandra, Bangalore. A beneficiary of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme for the past six years, Amrish regularly attends school every day. His favorite subject is English, which is evident from the ease with which he answers my questions proudly in the language.
His father is a daily wage labourer while his mother works in the garments industry and money can be a little tight. An only child, he tells me that his parents are happy to send him to school to get an education and not have to worry about what to feed him during the day, as they can depend of the mid-day meal programme.
A strong, focused young man, he tells me a little shyly that he loves to come to school to study. But it’s not all work with him. Amrish is a sportsman and is a member of all three of the school sports teams – the coco, relay and kabbadi teams.
Amrish has been regularly eating the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal the last few years, and he says he enjoys the food. When I ask him which his favorite food would be, he earnestly exclaims that he loves all of it!
It is young children like Amrish who have the drive and determination to succeed, and the simple innocence of youth to enjoy his afternoon meal that provides Akshaya Patra with the inspiration to keep reaching out to more and more children across India every day.
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