Impact of Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal: Looking into children’s lives

As we go deeper into the lives of the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra, we learn how important the mid-day meal programme is in their lives. Let’s meet a few children to grasp the impact that the foundation’s effort is making.

First is Rahim, a hard-working student who dreams to be a doctor. He loves science and wants to a doctor so he can save lives. His father is an auto driver while his mother works as a housewife. To support the family, his mother does a few odd jobs. Despite the challenging financial state of the family, Rahim works hard in class and it has reflected in his marks. When free he plays and reads and also helps his mother in house chores. Rahim loves the dal (lentils) and fruits provided by The Akshaya Patra Foundation as part of the mid-day meal serve to his school every day. He compliments the service of the organization to society.

Another beneficiary we met was Rajesh who is fond of literature and loves to draw. His teachers are very impressed with his artistic skills and think that a formal coaching will help develop his talent further. And Rajesh wants to be a teacher. He thinks that mid-day meal programme really helps the families of children studying at the same school. He is grateful to the programme.

Now Pithali, studying in 4th grade, hopes to become an actress in Assamese movies and travel the world with her family one day. Her father, a seasonal mason sometime is without work for as long as 4-6 months. And her mother stitches mekhala chadars (a traditional Assamese outfit). A monthly income of INR 2500 - 4000 is difficult to sustain a family of five. So, the food provided by Akshaya Patra at her school is a great incentive to Pithali. She looks forward to Wednesdays and Saturdays when pulao, khichdi and kheer are served. They are her favourites.

Just imagine if these children are not provided nutritious meals every day. Their education will be affected and so will their dreams and aspirations. That is the reason why the mid-day meal programme of Akshaya Patra is really vital to the children. The food gives them the much needed nutrition for their healthy growth. When children are well fed, they get the energy to focus on education and pursue their dreams. The mid-day meal is also an effort to eliminate classroom hunger in India.

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The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Bengaluru. The NGO in India is feeding the government school children through mid-day meal programme every working day of school.

Knowing an effective organisation like Akshaya Patra

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or Charities are expressions of people working for people. They are groups of ordinary citizens making efforts to change lives for the better. NGOs come in different lights with an array of activities depending on support, cause and values. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one amongst millions of NGOs in the world striving to make an impact and transform lives of millions of children in India.

Akshaya Patra operates at its best working in partnership with The Government of India and the state governments, with the help of its supporters and staff towards professional ways of working and effective, high-impact programme that provides mid-day meals to school children in government and government-aides schools. It’s effective because its cause is clear and the vision and mission are defined and imbibed by all associated with the organisation.

The organisation is able to work to its strength by mobilising the skills of its workforce. For Akshaya Patra, its impact is proportional to response to the need and the bond its builds with all involved with the cause. The trust of beneficiaries, school teachers, trustees, donors, partners and all other stakeholder is the backbone of the organisation. Its size and reach are just mere reflections to the effort.

And anyone who wants to support needs to know whether the organisation deserves it; does the cause needs it? and so on. To make the decision easy Akshaya Patra has clearly explained its vision, mission and programme it is implementing. It shares its impact study, progresses and strategies in taking the cause forward. The organisation has explained the motivation for its programme, how it works towards a positive change that is eliminating classroom hunger. The Akshaya Patra Foundation works with a strong internal system, and applies professional standards and codes of conduct to its work. And of course its ultimate judges are the beneficiaries. Akshaya Patra runs the world’s largest mid-day meal programme providing nutritious food to more than 1.4 million children in India. It’s growing, moving towards its mission of feeding 5 million by 2020.