Akshaya Patra Serving Health and Well-Being in Schools

The major drawback in India is that children from low-income families are not entitled to proper education for lack of food. The children tend to remain hungry as their parents cannot afford them a meal. For them, a square meal is more important than acquiring education. So they accompany parents to work places. As a result, attendance has dropped down and drop-outs have increased.  It is estimated that more than 50% of Indian children drop out of the schools at primary level.  Unfortunately, India shares 34% percent of the world’s illiterate population.

Without education a child can never progress. Understanding the link between education and nutrition, Akshaya Patra serves unlimited food for education keeping their growth requirements in mind. The meals are delivered with proper nutrition; quality, prescribed calories and safety. Adequate supply of micro nutrients as iron, folic acid, zinc, fibre, essential fatty acids, calcium, carbohydrates, protein vitamin A are supplemented through the mid-day meals. During lunch servings; roti, rice, rice khichadi, curd rice, vegetable pulao, mixed vegetable curry, sambar, dhal, rasam etc. are served. The sambar and curries contain lots of vegetables which have essential nutrients that are required for the adequate growth of children. The rice and wheat served meets adequate standards as prescribed by The Government of India.  Every meal served is warm, fresh, nutritious and ready to eat. So hunger, which is an obstacle to children’s health, education and survival are tackled by the nutritious mid-day meals.

The mid-day meal solves two of the critical United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The first is to End Poverty and Hunger and second is to achieve Universal Education. Food for education solves the obstacle of hunger that is a hindrance for education and health.

Hunger hinders a child’s learning process. Let no child miss the opportunity to attend school for the lack of food.  Let us donate for the NGO so that it can reach out to more children.  Let us work together to serve children and end class room hunger. It takes just Rs. 750 to feed a child for a year! Every donation of Rs. 500 or above made to Akshaya Patra is eligible for 100% tax exemption under section 35 AC or 50% tax exemption under Section 80 G of the Indian Income Tax.

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10 Things to Know About Akshaya Patra Mid-day Meals

Education leads to the all round development in the life of a child. It is a necessary requirement in the progress of a nation. In the government schools, though education is provided freely most of the children tend to be drop outs due to inherent socio-economic factors.  Most of the parents would not be in a condition to send their children to schools with a proper lunch and hence children would have to starve during the lunch time. Without proper food a child will not have the energy to concentrate in the class and gradually they will lose interest in studies. They have to accompany their parents to work for a meagre income to buy a meal at least a day.

The Government of India started the mid-day meal programme keeping in mind the children hailing from low income families in government schools. To reach out the benefit to more and more children the State Governments partners with NGOs like Akshaya Patra to implement the Mid-Day Meal Programme. The programme supplies free mid-day meals on school days for children in government and government aided schools supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.

Advantages of Akshaya Patra mid-day meal 

• It is the worlds largest meal programme serving 1.5 million children everyday, across 24 locations in India.
• The not-for-profit organization started the initiative in 2000 with just 1,500 children.
• Addresses two of the most burning challenges in India – hunger and education. 
• Boosts universalisation of primary education which provides free educational opportunities to all children of the society until they complete the age of fourteen years
• Leads to an increase in enrolment in schools as parents are ready to send their children to schools. In the same way students are ready to come to schools.
• Leads to decrease drop outs rates in schools as the children need not go in search of a square meal. 
• Serves as nutritional support to students which suffice the health of children.
• A successful public-private partnership in collaboration with The Central Governments and various State Governments, corporate houses and individual donors.
• Serves nutritious meals to anganwadi children in India so that they can retain a healthy childhood.
• Improves socialization among children from different castes and sects.
• Empower women through employment in the kitchens which would help them to lead an independent life.

In fact, it is because of the success of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meals, that food and education are reached out to multitudes of children in India, thus serving as a catalyst to the progress of our nation. The mission of the NGO is to feed 5 million children by 2020. So let us donate for the children so that the organisation can widen its reach to other states in India. It takes Rs. 750 to feed a child for a year! 

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Resolving Global Issues Surrounding Children

Millions of children across the world are denied the opportunity to enjoy childhood and are still in search of basic necessities like food, education, shelter and safety.  Child trafficking, child marriage, poverty, malnutrition and child labour are some of the main global Issues surrounding children.

Child trafficking affects millions of children across the world. Children are bought and sold for various activities including forced labour.  According to a 2012 report released by the International Labour Organization, 21 million people are trapped in forced labour across the world.  Of the total, 5.5 million are below 18 years.  Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia (COSA), Children of the Night, Called to Rescue, Love 146 and Maiti Nepal are some of the charities working to end child trafficking and exploitation across the world.

Similarly, more than 700 million women marry before turning 18 and about 250 million get into wedlock before age 15, according to a data released by the UNICEF in 2014. Though efforts to end child marriage have been going, the custom is still prevalent in several parts of India. The after effects include early pregnancy, school dropout, violence, abuse and exposure to HIV and AIDS. Some of the charitable organisations trying hard to free young children from the clutches of early marriage include Girls Not Brides, Care and Breakthrough.

Poverty is another issue we need to take care of. About 1 billion in the world live in poverty, according to UNICEF.  Poor nutrition claims 3.1 million young lives every year. In developing countries, about 100 million children are underweight and 66 million primary school children go hungry to school. Poor nutrition can damage the immune system and increase a child’s risk of contracting deadly diseases. It can also affect learning ability, cognitive and physical development of children.

Some of the organisations fighting hunger and poverty include Action against Hunger, the U.N. World Food Programme and Bread for the World Institute. In India, apart from the government, charitable organisations like The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Annamrita, No Hungry Child, Annapoorna of Adamya Chetana distribute mid-day meals in schools. Initiative taken by these charitable organisations has helped fight hunger and improve nutritional status of underprivileged children in India.

It’s also shocking to know that about 100 million children are homeless and live on streets.  The reasons differ from war or poverty to harmful diseases. Some of the children are orphans, while some live in streets to support their families. Street children, according to UNICEF, are the most difficult to protect and provide education and care.  They face risks from various sources including the police and are sometimes murdered as part of the cleaning up of the city. Charitable organisations like Youth Advocate Program International (YAP International), Consortium for Street Children (CSC), Dreamz (Mumbai), Support (Mumbai) and Railway Children have helped improve the situation and given new meanings to the lives of street children across the world.

Image Courtesy: Akshaya Patra

In addition to this, millions of children today are trapped in child labour. Children are often forced to work in several dangerous environments.  A data from UNICEF shows that about 150 million children are engaged in child labour including mining, quarrying, domestic service or agriculture.

However, the number of children who work in India has come down over the past few years.  In 2011, only 43.53 lakh children aged between five and 14 were working compared to 1.26 crore in 2001, thanks to the work of organisations like International Labour Organization, The Child Labor Coalition and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).  Apart from them, the list of charities for children also includes UNICEF, United Nations and Save the Children.

There is no doubt that these issues have made children’s lives miserable and hard. But, the situation has definitely improved than earlier, thanks to the thousands of charitable organisations across the world that have engaged in charities for children.

If the good work of charitable organisations continues at this pace, we can soon completely free our children from these issues and return their rights.

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Experience the Other Side of Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

The long wait is finally over and it’s time to feast with your family and friends! November 26 is Thanksgiving Day, the day in a year when we stop to count the blessings in our lives and give thanks for what we have achieved so far.

Centuries have passed since a special day for Thanksgiving came on this earth and there is no doubt that the fourth Thursday in November has gained more prominence over the years.  In the modern busy world, we hardly get time to socialise or spend time with family. Thanksgiving, in a way, is a day meant exclusively for enjoying delicious meals with our loved ones.

When a grand family meal is awaiting us on Thanksgiving Day, there are some children who still go to sleep in empty stomachs. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO for children in India, has been trying to provide one meal a day to children in India since 2000 so that they do not have to choose between hunger and education.

The NGO has kitchens in 24 locations across 10 states in India to prepare freshly cooked nutritious meals for school children. No wonder, in the past 15 years, over 1.4 million children across India have found their way back to school.

Here is an opportunity to experience the other side of Thanksgiving.  Help provide a daily meal for school children and give them a day to thank you.

Be thankful for what you have and help those who don’t have. Donate food for Thanksgiving.  Let us create a special Thanksgiving Day for kids.

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Mid-day meal programme assures freedom from hunger

As a nation, we are independent of any rule from external nations and have our own democracy. But, should independence only mean freedom from external rulers? This question is sure to open up a plethora of answers depending on the varied perceptions we all have about freedom. However, from the perspective of freedom from hunger in a population of approximately 1.28 billion people, the hunger population starkly stands at 194 million, one of the highest in the world. This hunger situation is also an indication to the alarming poverty-illiteracy scenario in the country.

Being a participant nation in United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, India is working towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, and Millennium Development Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education. There indeed has been progress towards achieving the mentioned goals but as a nation we are yet to get 100 per cent freedom from hunger, poverty and illiteracy. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Mid-Day Meal Scheme are among the potential and promising developmental programmes initiated by the Government of India to counter illiteracy and hunger among children. The primary purpose of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan is to ensure that children from all sections of the society are being recipients of the fundamental right to primary education. The Mid-Day Meal Programme on the other hand acts like a supporting pillar to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan as the primary objective of this initiative is to counter classroom hunger by providing free cooked meals to children at all government schools.

A review of the mentioned initiatives reveals its efficiency and potential in eradicating the poverty-hunger-illiteracy cycle. The Government runs these programmes in association with various NGOs with the aim that the benefits of the programmes should reach the population at the grass root level. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such NGO that has taken up Mid-Day Meal Programme as its primary cause. By implementing this programme in a Public-Private Partnership model, Akshaya Patra is feeding hungry children with nutritious meals across 10 states in India. This meal encourages children to attend school and also boosts their aspirations. When you donate for the cause you are actually contributing towards children hunger fund that is utilised to continue feeding hungry children with wholesome meals each day. A click at Stories of Hope will introduce you to many young lives with aspirations and dreams like any regular children; the only difference being their current socio-economic status. But your participation in the programme as a donor, volunteer, well-wisher can prove to be a catalyst for change.

This Independence Day choose to donate to a good cause and give the freedom to learn, eat and play to those who are our future leaders. 

Happy Independence Day to all!!!

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