Akshaya Patra is an NGO in India working for the cause of food and education of children. It implements the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 40 locations of 12 states benefitting more than 1.76 million children on each school day. The NGO’s mission is to feed 5 million children by 2020.
Traffic signals, food joints, bus stands and railway stations, pavements – if you have ever crossed any of the above, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to imagine children in tattered clothes trying to earn a living. It is such a common sight that we simply overlook and get ahead with our daily routine. But the fact is, it is an alarming condition that not only needs to be looked at but also worked on. It is important that we understand these children who are trying to earn a living are deprived of the basic rights to food and education. This means, they will grow up to be unhealthy, illiterate and unskilled; resulting in a generation that will be dependent on the resources of the country instead of being resourceful themselves – and the cycle of poverty-hunger-illiteracy will keep repeating itself.
Addressing this critical situation, the Government of India along with various NGOs have implemented many schemes and programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, and the like to support children from low socio-economic backgrounds. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such NGO in India working for the upliftment and development of children. This NGO implements the Mid-Day Meal Scheme and supports education of children by providing freshly cooked nutritious meals in Government school and Government-aided schools. Akshaya Patra is one of the oldest mid-day meal NGOs with a service history of 18 years.
With a conscientious vision and mission of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’, the Foundation began its journey in 2000. Since then, it has sustainably and strategically expanded its reach to benefit more and more children across the country. Presently, Akshaya Patra provides wholesome school lunch to 17,62,133 children studying in 14,702 schools. This meal acts as an incentive for parents to send their children to school instead of pushing them to the world of labour. The Mid-Day Meal Scheme has proved to be a potential intervention in eradicating classroom hunger, increasing enrolment and attendance, reducing drop-out rate, countering child labour, and upholding hopes and dreams of children. For many, school lunch is the only meal they get to eat for the whole day.
Support the efforts of Akshaya Patra. Donate for a child today and help the NGO to reach its goal of feeding 5 million children by 2020. Your contribution will tangibly change lives of millions of children in many positive ways. It will make them healthy, literate, and resourceful citizens of the nation in the near future.
Interesting article about a local Indian NGO - thanks for sharing. Two quick questions - does the Foundation do any advocacy work to the GoI to encourage the government to implement a Mid-Day Meal Scheme? And, who funds the Foundation (philanthropy, government grants, private citizens)?