Food and education: Two sides of a coin

In India, every child has the right to a quality, elementary education, and this right is fulfilled through the Right to Education Act provided under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution. This act provides for free and compulsory education to all children of India between the ages of six and 14. This act which has redefined the way children are treated and nurtured in this country came into effect on 1 April, 2010.

Now four years later, this legislation has brought about a vast change in the number of children being educated in India. Today 80 per cent of all elementary education being provided in India comes from government run schools. However, this progress has been fraught with challenges. One of the most severe challenges facing these schools is that of poverty and hunger.

Though the education is free, there are too many children out there whose families are too poor, too desperate to waste a potential earning body on school. The government mid-day meal scheme was introduced to try and address this gap. With the cause of Food for Education being center to The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s ideology, it was only natural that the NGO to provide mid-day meals to government schools.

With the vision that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger, The Akshaya Patra Foundation serves tasty, warm, nutritious food to over 1.3 million children across over 10,600 government schools in India. These mid-day meals have helped them combat the resistance parents had in sending their children to school, by promising them one less mouth to feed at home. 

Aside from alleviating the burden of nutrition from these helpless parents, the Akshaya Patra mid-day meals have also helped to increase enrollment, attendance, concentration, socialisation and also decreased school dropout rates.

The Right to Education Act in India envisaged a country where the youth will grow up to be a learned, successful, forward thinking generation, with access to opportunities not seen before in this country. To a large extent, this act is making this vision a reality. By leaning on supporting programmes like The Akshaya Patra Foundation mid-day meal scheme, the Right to Education Act will continue to pave the way to a literate future in India.

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook