Gearing up for Life

Life is not just an endless stream of black and white occurrences interrupted by robotic decision making. Life is messy and complicated, and well real. And the Akshaya Patra Foundation realised this too, and implemented the Akshaya Life Skills programme in the schools it serves, to help provide young children with the skills they need to deal with the real world.

Akshaya Patra Foundation – A Promise for a Better Future

The potential of a mid day meal is underrated sometimes. A mid day meal is more about free food that acts as an incentive for children to attend school; it’s a promise of a future. A child who has turned to labor only dreams of getting his next meal. Hunger acts as an obstacle, holding them back from realizing their dreams.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation believes that the delight and potential of one mid day meal goes far beyond just filling a hungry stomach. It equals an opportunity for education, ambition and a future.

Mid Day Meal Programme provides Food for Children Education in India

Akshaya Patra’s mid day meal programme provides food for children education, covering over 9,000 schools in nine states in India every day. Akshaya Patra’s distribution of free meals to government schools was initially an initiative undertaken to feed hungry children, but had a much deeper impact.

The agony of an empty stomach, day after day, leaves no option for a child but to turn to child labor as a last resort to secure at least a single meal for a day. A direct relation can be made between food and education.  Free meals in schools act as an incentive for children to enroll, attend and complete school to receive a wholesome, tasty meal every day. Education has the potential to eliminate illiteracy and poverty, and the mid day meal programme aims to counter both these issues.

Story of Akshaya Patra Foundation

How it began

All this while, we have been reading inspirational studies about little kids who are able to build their dreams mainly due to the free mid day meal that they get from The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Now let’s take a peek into how this entire programme that feeds 1.3 million children in our country came about. Let us get an insight into how the idea of a mid-day meal programme grew in leaps and bounds to become The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

While on a recent visit to the first five schools that The Akshaya Patra Foundation started serving at, we met Venu Vadana Gopal Das, the individual who went in search of schools that required the free mid day meal facility. “Once the idea was conceptualised, I was asked to go explore surrounding areas in Bangalore and find out about the need for a mid day meal programme. I knew that the outskirts and rural areas will be our prime targets. I visited Government schools in areas like Peenya, Chikkabidarakally and Makali and was moved by the plight of the kids there” he reminisced.

“Then we approached these schools and recorded the attendance and started serving. It was just five schools that Akshaya Patra Foundation served at in the beginning. It was on 3rd July, 2000 that we first fed to these schools; a total of 1500 children,” he said.

When asked about the major challenges that Akshaya Patra Foundation faced in the beginning, Venu Vadana Gopal Das said, “Our main challenge was the lack of vessels for rice and sambar, and a vehicle to transport the food. We had to hire transport vehicles from outside and send food from The Akshaya Patra Foundation. However, thanks to the support from the Government and also volunteers who donated generously and today we are able to feed 1.3 million children. Akshaya Patra Foundation hopes to feed all the children in our country and wipe out classroom hunger.”

The Akshaya Patra Foundation implements the mid-day meal programme under the aegis of Central Government and various State Governments. Though the principal role of Akshaya Patra Foundation is to provide mid day meal, yet it greatly emphasizes on education too. “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” is the vision statement of the Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Currently, the total reach of Akshaya Patra Foundation can be witnessed in 19 locations of 9 states in India namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. On the whole the Akshaya Patra Foundation in India feeds in more than 9000 Government schools, every day.

Apart from the primary mid day meal programme, Akshaya Patra Foundation has also taken up other feeding initiatives like:

• Feeding expecting and lactating mothers
• Feeding in special schools
• Subsidized lunch for the economically backward
• Feeding runaway children
• Feeding in old-age homes
• Feeding the homeless
• Disaster relief

Social initiatives like after-class tuitions, life skills programme, community health camps, scholarship programmes, disaster relief and health check-up camps also find its place in the Akshaya Patra Foundation.The many positive impacts the mid-day meal programme has brought about are substantial. Increase in number of primary school enrolments, improved daily school attendance, better concentration and performance level of the children and visible decrease in school drop-out rate are the core areas of achievement of this programme. Through the implementation of the mid-day meal programme Akshaya Patra Foundation strives to counter the twin challenges of hunger and illiteracy.

The mission of Akshaya Patra Foundation is to feed 5 million children by 2020 and through the motto of “Unlimited food for education” Akshaya Patra Foundation is gradually treading towards nourishing the future of India.

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Akshaya Patra Foundation Indian NGO ranked 23rd among Top 100 NGOs

In the Annual Ranking of NGOs by The Global Journal, the Indian NGO- The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been ranked 23rd among the Top 100 NGOs in the world. The Global Journal considered a pool of approximately 450 NGOs from across the world working for various causes. There were three key criteria based on which the ranking was done. They are: impact, innovation and sustainability.

A unique content media platform- The Global Journal provides in-depth coverage of global governance issues. In this ranking Akshaya Patra shares apace with many other reputed NGOs in India and abroad like BRAC, MSF, Path and the like.  This ranking has further boosted the level of motivation and confidence of the Foundation to work towards the children in India. The Foundation provides mid-day meal to Indian children studying in Government schools and Government-aided schools. Children in India who are in need of support is benefitting doubly out of this mid-day meal. First, these children are receiving one wholesome and nutritious meal everyday.  Second, they are able to continue their education and also concentrate better in their academics.

Studies show that there are millions of children in India who need to earn for their own meal at a tender age. Due to this, these children are unable to go to school for formal education. At this situation mid-day meal acts a breather for these children and their parents too. Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a Government initiative and under the aegis of the Government many NGOs in India implement the same in different areas. Akshaya Patra is one such NGO in India.

Headquartered in Bangalore- India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been implementing the mid-day meal programme since 2000. 12 years of tireless efforts has increased the Foundation’s reach to 9 states of India. Currently it is operating the programme in 19 locations and providing food to 1.3 million children in India. It has had a major impact in increasing school enrolment, sustaining attendance and bettering performance of the children. It employs some of the most innovative technologies in it’s kitchens for improved efficiency while preparing the meals. It aims at reaching out to 5 million children in India by 2020.

You too can be a part of this mission of the 23rd ranked Indian NGO. Join The Akshaya Patra Foundation today. 

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