The Akshaya Patra Foundation – feeding 1.6 million children every year
The Mid Day Meal initiative was conceived in June 2000 by The Akshaya Patra Foundation with a vision that “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.” With a desire to serve food to those in need, Akshaya Patra envisioned the Mid Day Meal project in schools which also served the underprivileged children. After the success of the
With a desire to serve food to those in need, Akshaya Patra envisioned the Mid Day Meal project in schools which also served the underprivileged children. After the success of the program in Karnataka, it was expanded to other parts of the country as a public-private partnership. The Central and State Governments, as well as individual and institutional funders, have joined hands in implementation of Mid-Day Meal in schools covered by Akshaya Patra. The objectives of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme are to reduce classroom hunger and increase school enrolment and attendance, thereby improving socialization among castes and addressing malnutrition. This is also expected to empower women through employment. The foundation envisions an INDIA free of hunger and poverty. It has an ambitious aim to feed 5 million children by 2020.
This is a sneak peek into their kitchen.
Jagriti Yatra will visit the Foundation in Vizag on the 30th December.
How it Works:
The entire cooking and delivery process in the Akshaya Patra project has been designed such that the nutritive value of the food is maximized, based on a basic set of guidelines prepared by a body of nutrition experts covering food preparation, storage, and supply. The processes are not only standardized but have also been quality tested and certified by ISO. This ensures that hygienic and nutritious food reaches the children. This impact on health was observed to be particularly high on children from very poor families.
This also ensured that cooked food and not food grains were provided to the children. Headmasters of three schools admitted that since food-grains were often supplied in bulk which exceeded the storage capacity of most of the smaller schools, the school authorities were left with no choice but to distribute food grains to the students according to the per head allocation. There was also a noteworthy reduction in the burden of the teaching staff for non-academic activities such as buying grocery, vegetables and fuel wood for cooking. With readymade food being served under the Akshaya Patra Project, the energy and time of the school staff are spared for more productive academic work.
Reference:
- https://www.akshayapatra.org/impact-of-mid-day-meal-programme
- https://www.akshayapatra.org/apadmin/uploads/userfiles/images/pdf/hpcl-akshaya-patra-an-impact-study-2013.pdf