Fighting Hunger And Winning Over Malnutrition

By Author: The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Total Articles: 117
Comment this article

To grow and develop to their greatest potential, children require proper nutrition at appropriate times. Early-life poor diets can result in vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin A deficiency, which lowers children's resistance to infection and raises their risk to contracting various ailments.

It can be difficult to cater to young children's nutritional demands and many parents struggle to provide their children with adequate food that is nutrient-dense, age-appropriate, safe and economical. These difficulties are increasingly exacerbated by poverty.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation in association with the Government of India implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme (PM Poshan Abhiyaan) that provides a nutritious meal every day to school children who experience hunger in classroom.

Twenty years ago, on November 11, 2000, Shri S M Krishna, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka, and Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, the minister of Human Resource Development at the time, inaugurated the Foundation's first kitchen in Karnataka’s Bengaluru.

Today, Akshaya Patra has completed 22 years of enhancing children's ...
... lives by giving them nutritious mid-day meals. The Foundation has served several billions of mid-day meals to children since its inception in 2000.

Mid-Day Meal Programme and its Magic

The Mid-Day Meal Programme improves children's attendance as well as their propensity to stay after lunch; it has also been successful in reducing classroom hunger. The programme has been crucial in increasing student enrolment, attendance and socialising inside classrooms. It has undoubtedly contributed to the eradication of hunger. Additionally, it allowed women the opportunity to find employment by employing women from Self-Help Groups. The Mid-Day Meal Programme is also a creative strategy for encouraging children from low socioeconomic backgrounds to get access to uninterrupted education.

Fulfilling Dreams Of Children

The hot meals served in schools by Akshaya Patra is helping children continue their education and dream of a brighter tomorrow.

Brij Rani is a 11-year-old girl who studies in Upper Primary School at Bati in Mathura.  She is the youngest of the seven siblings and wants to become a teacher. Her favourite subject is Mathematics. She studies in Class 5. From the mid-day meal menu, her favourite lunch is Dal Roti. She aspires to be a teacher because she wants every child in her community to have access to basic education. Till today, many families in her village hesitate to send their children to school. Brij wants to make sure that this stops and every child gets the opportunity to attend school. She also says that when she grows up, she wants to create awareness among parents about the importance of education. 

Nine-year-old Gowri Dixit from Upper Primary School, Maat Raja, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh is determined to follow the footsteps of her father and aspires to be a police officer when she grows up. Her father is a police personnel and her mother is a teacher. This third-standard student dreams of ending all kinds of illegal activities prevailing in the state and delivering justice to the innocent. The youngest of three siblings, Gowri loves reading and her favourite subject is English. She otherwise enjoys a game of hopscotch and lock and key with her friends. This little girl relishes the dal chawal that is served as a part of midday meals. The school meal served by Akshaya Patra provides nourishment to children like Gowri and motivates them to pursue their dreams.

Jyoti, a Class 6 student of HPKGS Hubballi, aspires to be a teacher when she grows up. A midday meal beneficiary of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, she enjoys the hot lunch served at her school, especially roti and bhaji. She also likes singing and playing kho-kho in her leisure time. Being the eldest of three siblings, she assists her mother in the household chores. Her father is an employee of the Karnataka State Electricity Board.
“All of us want to become something in our future and serve our nation in different ways. Similarly, I want to become a teacher and make studies easier for students. I want to build a school where I can educate the poor free of cost. Children are the future of any nation, so we should handle them with care,” she says.

Akshaya Patra is one of oldest and largest mid-day meals NGO in India serving meals to over 2 million children in 20,000+ schools across 14 states and 2 union territories. Support Akshaya Patra to nurture and nourish Government school students from its 65 kitchens that gives top priority to safety and hygiene of meals. Donate for children’s dreams today!

I'm a social volunteer, lives in Bengaluru. I do work for NGOs to make society better. Currently I'm working for The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It's an NGO in India which provides wholesome nutritious mid-day meals to government school children to end classroom hunger. https://www.akshayapatra.org/