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.

The Akshaya Patra follows a three item menu in each location. To suit the palate of children from different regions of the country, recipes for the meal are planned accordingly. Ingredients comprise of vegetables with high nutritional value, dairy products and rice or rotis which work as a powerhouse for nutrition. Improving child nutrition in India is an issue of utmost urgency, and wholesome mid day meals can improve the health of children by satisfying their daily nutritional requirements.

A gratified appetite provides an ability to focus on academics and take a keen interest in learning. When children eat, play and learn together, there remain no barriers between them, and a feeling of equality is instilled among the students. Studies have proved the efficacy of mid day meals to bring about an increase in school enrollment, nutrition and social equity.  It is a priority for Akshaya Patra to ensure contentment for children and a childhood which is free of hunger and grief.

To increase literacy rates and reduce poverty, it is essential to realize where the potential lies. Hungry children will have a diminished capacity to learn and survive.

It should be a collective responsibility to provide nourishment to those children who have to overcome hunger, which poses as an obstacle and keeps them from tapping their complete potential to succeed.

Join hands with AKSHAYA PATRA and Feed the children Today!!!

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