Empowering Children With Food And Education

Every expanding economy must consider nutrition.

According to UNICEF, acute undernutrition in India causes wasting in 20% of children under the age of five. India is home to more than one third of the world’s wasted children. 43 percent of Indian children under the age of five are underweight, and 48 percent, or 61 million children, are stunted as a result of persistent malnutrition.

In our nation, nutrition and education have traditionally gone hand in hand. Lack of education frequently results in ignorance of the value of nutrition and lack of understanding of balanced meals. Children who live below the poverty line, where eating full meals is a luxury, frequently choose not to pursue their education in order to obtain employment that will allow them to buy food. The Akshaya Patra Foundation runs the Mid-Day Meal Scheme or MDM under the Government’s PM Poshan Abhiyaan, which allows students to get free and nutritious lunch at school, in an effort to attract more children to enrol in school and support them to continue their education.

Giving Wings To Dreams Of Children

Majority of children, who attend the school that Geetha (name changed) is the head teacher of in the Unkal district of Karnataka, only attend for the meals served as a part of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. She adds that the meals served in school also acts as one of the most significant incentives for parents to enrol their wards to schools thus helping them to continue their education and follow their dreams and aspirations. This also helps parents ensure that their child gets an access to at least one wholesome meal every day.

Akshaya Patra is cognizant of the immediate and enduring effects of midday meals. As a result, this NGO feeds and nourishes over 2 million Government school children across the country every day, thus encouraging them to dream of a better and brighter tomorrow.

To support the nutrition and education of children in need, donate online!

How Akshaya Patra started feeding children in India

“We don’t want to stop. We want to feed as many children as possible.”

Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman – The Akshaya Patra Foundation

 In a population of 1.38 billion people, 39% of the total population comprises of children below the age of 18 years; this means there are around 472 million children in India.

Out of every 100 children, only around 32 children complete their school education (District Information System for Education),

out of which,

19.8 million children below the age of 6, do not get the required nutrition (ICDS 2015).

Due to multiple challenges that come from being a child belonging to lower-income sections of the society, children are either sent off to seek work during school hours or would be forced to work with parents to fend for their families. Amongst a few handful of children who were sent to school, they performed poorly in schools due to a short attention span or would immediately drop out in the lure of earning money.

To change this scenario, the Central Government of India started the Mid-Day Meal Scheme to address the issue of hunger and education. Yet, 50% of India’s children remained undernourished. In the year 2001, mid-day meals were mandated in all Government and Government-aided schools of all the states. With the help of non-profit organisations in India, many children were fed meals in schools. By the end of 2004, 50 million children received school lunches, either provided by the Government or NGO’s working in partnership with the Government. One such NGO in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. 

What is the story of Akshaya Patra?

To address the dual challenges of education and hunger in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation was started in the year 2000 with a vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ It began by serving hot and nutritious school meals to 1,500 children studying in five different schools of Bengaluru, Karnataka. By March 2007, the Foundation was serving wholesome meals in 2,000 schools. As of today, mid-day meals are served to 18,00,907 children studying in 19,039 schools of India. It prepares and serves school meals from centralised kitchens situated in 50 locations and decentralised kitchens situated in two locations, spread across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

Impact of mid-day meals on children

Many studies conducted around the impact of mid-day meals have shown an:

• Increase in school enrolment rate, both for boys and girls
• Increase in the attendance rates
• Decrease in school drop-out rates
• Improvement in classroom performance
• Improvement in attention span
• Improvement in nutritional value & energy

What the students have to say:

 To read more such stories of beneficiaries of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, click here.

Bring about healthy changes in the lives of children with your donation. When you support Akshaya Patra to provide unlimited food for education to children belonging to challenging backgrounds, you are giving back to society to bring about the above-mentioned changes.

If you have any such stories of children whose lives have changed with mid-day meals, do let us know in the comments section below.

How Akshaya Patra implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that works on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. It is an implementing partner of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme with steadfast support from The Government of India, the State Governments and philanthropic corporate and individual donors. Under this programme, it provides unlimited food for education to children in Government schools and Government-aided schools. This scheme is a remarkable intervention to bring children back to school every day.

What started off as a vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ has grown tremendously to be recognised as the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programme; from feeding 1,500 children to feeding 18,00,907 children every day.

Since its inception, Akshaya Patra has steadily and sustainably expanded in different locations across India. Here is a glimpse of its reach across the nation today.

Today, it operates from 52 kitchens, out of which 50 kitchens are centralised and 2 are decentralised. Both types of kitchens give utmost importance to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. Of the total kitchens, 20 kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified and the remaining are in the process of certification.

Know the locations of Akshaya Patra’s State-wise kitchens here.

 

How the Mid-Day Meal Scheme is implemented by Akshaya Patra

To ensure maximum children are benefitted from the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Akshaya Patra operates two types of kitchens:

Centralised Kitchens

These kitchens are mainly located in urban and semi-urban areas and act as a node to many schools surrounding it. These are large cooking facilities having the capacity to cook 50,000 to 1,50,000 meals daily with the use of automated machines which also ensure less manual intervention to maintain hygiene.

Decentralised Kitchens

These kitchens are located in remote areas where there is less connectivity. The difficult terrains of such locations hinder setting up of a large kitchen facility. In such areas, women Self-Help Groups (SHG) take up the cooking process. They are trained and are under constant vigilance of Akshaya Patra’s Process and Quality Officers to ensure adherence to hygiene and cleanliness while preparing the meals.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Samples of raw materials like rice grains, pulses, spices, vegetables are assessed for quality based on standard food safety and quality guidelines by Quality Managers in Akshaya Patra and are purchased in bulk for preparation of meals.

Fresh vegetables are bought on a daily basis. These are sorted based on best quality which are then washed and sanitised. All the kitchens follow the FIFO (First In First Out) and FEFO (First Expiry First Out) method in order to ensure fresh vegetables and raw materials are used for cooking. This method helps in proper identification, storage and retrieval of raw materials.

 

PRODUCTION

The process of cooking begins early in the morning. Vegetables are chopped by the Vegetable cutting machine, root vegetables are peeled using the potato peeler machine, pastes of coconuts and batters for dosa, idly are made using a wet grinder.

If you want to sponsor equipment used at Akshaya Patra’s kitchens, click here.

Cauldrons, steamers, rice chutes, trolleys, knives, cutting boards etc., are all sterilised and cleaned to begin the process of cooking. All the vessels utilised in the kitchen are made up stainless steel of 304 grade. Each rice cauldron has a capacity of cooking 500 litres, each dal cauldron has a capacity of cooking 1,200 to 3,000 litres of dal or sambar. For the roti and puri making process, the dough kneader and roti-making machine helps to maintain consistency and hygiene without any manual intervention.

To ensure uniformity of taste, pre-determined measurements for each recipe are used. A supervisor constantly keeps an eye throughout the process to make sure that health and hygiene are constantly kept on mind.

There are a few checkpoints that are followed in the kitchen:

• All the staffs are trained on personal hygiene and food safety.
• Food is cooked only in stainless steel of grade 304.
• Critical cooking points and temperatures are monitored closely.

The cooked items are then transferred into insulated containers through rice and sambar chutes which are then lined up on conveyor belts to be transported.

 

POST PRODUCTION

Packing & Transportation

The cooked food is then transferred to steam sterilised vessels which are made up of stainless steel 304 grade. The vehicles in which these food containers are loaded into, are sterilised before the loading process. These vehicles have a puffed up body which helps in reduction of loss of temperature. The delivery vans are made up of a honeycomb structure that can hold all the vessels and utensils in place without any spillage till it reaches the children.

 

Delivery and post delivery process

Many methods like Logistic charting for route optimisation and GPRS tracking are adopted to ensure on-time delivery of mid-day meals.

Feedbacks are taken from all the schools on a daily basis while delivering the meals. The Quality Officers review these feedbacks and work on corrective measures to improve the quality and delivery of food.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is on a constant endeavour to improve its operations and quality of service towards children’s mid-day meal service. Healthy meals give children hope; hope that their dreams can be achieved.

Every child has a right to nutritious food and good education. Donate online and enable them to succeed in their life.

DONATE SCHOOL MEALS TO CHILDREN WITH THE AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION

Please check our Recent Blog – Support Akshaya Patra’s COVID-19 Relief Service

How Akshaya Patra Foundation Feeds Over 1.8 Million Children Every Day?

1.8 million+ children!

Is it really possible to feed so many children in 1 single day?

Indeed, it is a humongous task but if the entire community works in unison with a children charity or an NGO, it is achievable.

One such NGO is The Akshaya Patra Foundation which is registered as a not-for-profit organisation under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. It implements the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

Akshaya Patra was started in the year 2000 by feeding 1,500 children in Bengaluru, Karnataka. As of today, it feeds 18,02,517 children studying in 16,856 Government and Government-aided schools located in 51 locations across India. It works with a vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ The Foundation aims to feed 5 million children by 2025.

But how does Akshaya Patra aim to accomplish those numbers?

Akshaya Patra provides freshly cooked, nutritious mid-day meals to children in order to help them in their overall development. The Foundation operates from 52 kitchens out of which, 50 kitchens are Centralized kitchens and 2 are Decentralized kitchens.

Centralized kitchen

Centralized kitchens are present in 50 locations of India and have a capacity to feed 25,000 to 1,00,000 meals a day. These kitchens are located in urban and semi-urban areas.

Decentralized Kitchen

A decentralized kitchen is set up in locations that are remote and not easily accessible. Such kitchens do not have a great connectivity which makes it difficult to set up a large infrastructure. It is operated by women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and monitored by Akshaya Patra supervisors.

Mid-day meals have several benefits

It might sound like a small school lunch for many of us, but it makes a huge difference in the lives of children who come from challenging backgrounds where having a square meal once a day is an achievement. This is why parents of such children rely on school mid-day meals. Mid-day meals benefit children in different ways:

Put the below points in smart art form.

• It improves nutritional levels in children who consume mid-day meals. Mid-day meals are packed with nutritional content.
• It increases the rate of school enrolment since a school lunch can act as a catalyst in bringing back children to school every day
• It increases their attention span and helps them focus better in their classrooms
• It ensures proper cognitive and physical development of children studying in schools
• It helps in reducing the school drop-out rates

You can help children by sponsoring their school lunches at ₹1100 and help them enjoy locally palatable meals for an entire academic year. You can contribute directly to help school children or by taking part in various volunteering opportunities available with Akshaya Patra.

Show your support to feed 1.8 million children!

Sponsor their meals & save tax too!

How Does Akshaya Patra Work in Uttar Pradesh?

There are many NGOs in India that work for various causes like education of children, healthcare for children and elderly, old age homes, child rights, women empowerment, wildlife conservation, mid-day meals of children and many more. Every state, every region and every town or city has numerous NGOs that work towards various causes.

One such NGO is The Akshaya Patra Foundation that works towards the cause of ‘Food for Education’ of children. It was started in the year 2000 and fed mid-day meals to 1,500 children. As of today, it feeds 18,02,517 children studying in 16,856 Government and Government-aided schools. It is spread across 51 locations in 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India, namely – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Daman & DNH, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

As an NGO in Uttar Pradesh, Akshaya Patra feeds a total of 2,24,288 children in 3,341 schools. Meals are prepared fresh in the 4 Centralised kitchens located in Math, Vrindavan, Lucknow and Gorakhpur. Locally palatable meals are served to children in a cyclical order so that there is a variation in the variety of food. No matter what the menu of the month is, it is packed with nutrition and energy.

The menu items served as part of mid-day meals in Uttar Pradesh are Tahari, Jeera rice, Kheer, Matar soy paneer sabji, Aloo Rajma, Vegetable Pulao and many more. All the ingredients used in the school meals help children focus better in the class and increase their attention span.

Help more children with your donation

Your support is required at every stage to achieve various milestones. Starting from taking care of their health, laying down their career and helping them achieve their goals in life; it all depends upon your donation. The NGO works with various partners, donors and volunteers to expand its reach. Your generosity can change their lives for the better. You can do your bit by:

• Donating online. You can donate as much as you wish, the children will be grateful for your support
• Conducting an online fundraising campaign in your business circle with your colleagues, your community members or partners
• Becoming an online ambassador and spreading the word about the Foundation in your social media circle
• Choosing to show your support by being a part of the Volunteering opportunities

 

Your generosity is much appreciated.

Your donations for school meals empowers aspirations!

Donate To Help School Children in India

Education is every child’s right. However, exercising their right to education is dependent on their parents’ financial condition. Some of us are fortunate that we belong to a family who has given us everything that we have desired for as a child and probably till date even. However, there are children whose parents come from challenging socio-economic backgrounds where even feeding the families with one proper square meal becomes a burdensome task. Such people rely on a children charity in India that works for various causes of children – health, education, food, medical care, etc.

One such Non-profit organization that works for the cause of ‘Food for education’ of school children is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It was started in 2000 with the vision that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ It started off by feeding 1,500 children and feeds 18,02,517 children on a daily basis, as of today.

More about Akshaya Patra…

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the largest implementer of the MDM Programme in India. This means that it feeds 1.8 million children with mid-day meals that are served in 16,856 schools. The meals are prepared in hygienic environments of state-of-the-art kitchens present in 51 locations across 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India.

Remember the festive season when there are large quantities of food that have to be prepared for the guests to relish? This is the everyday festivity feeling that lingers in the NGOs kitchens. There is a long list of items that have to be prepared on a daily basis. The menu varies from kitchen to kitchen to keep a check on the locally palatable meals that are enjoyed by children. The food that is prepared in Gujarat is different from the food prepared in Telangana. This ensures that the food is tasty, nutritious and enhances cognitive and physical development of school-going children.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is registered as a not-for-profit organisation under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. Which means that when you decide to donate for children’s school meals, along with the satisfactory feeling that you have brought in change to a child’s life, you also are eligible to save for yourself. How? When you sponsor a child’s meal, you are will receive a donor certificate and you gain tax benefits. On every donation you can claim tax deduction under section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

Donate towards Akshaya Patra

Feed the hope of feeding more children every day!

Income Tax deduction through Non-Government Organizations in India

You could be either a salaried employee or an entrepreneur, you are a taxpayer in the country by default. However, to reduce your income tax liability, there are various allowances available for exemption of tax. You can claim tax deductions by investing in House Rent Allowance, Leave Travel Allowance, Food coupons, Home Loan, Non-Government Organizations (NGO), etc.

There are approximately 3-3.6 million NGOs in India.

An NGO is a Non-Governmental Organization that aims at doing something good to others without any expectation.

Have you contributed towards an NGO? If your answer is no, you have one major reason to save on your taxes – Donation.

There are various NGOs that help you donate by charity.

Doing charity is a selfless act. To encourage donating for good causes, the Income Tax department allows people to claim exemption under Section 80G on the amount that is donated to NGOs and charities.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that works consistently towards providing healthy, nutritious meals to school-going children. It reaches out to 18,02,517 children in 51 locations across 12 States & 2 Union Territories of India and provides freshly cooked meal on all school days. They implement the Mid-Day Meal Programme in 16,856 schools across the country. It strives to reach out to all the children and provide them with the much-needed school meals.

You can be an active part and contribute actively towards NGOs for the betterment of the society. The Government of India introduced Section 80G as tax exemption in India. Under this Act, the amount that is donated towards an NGO can be claimed as a deduction while you file your IT returns. However, the charitable trust should be registered to offer you exemptions from taxes. The donor can claim IT exemption of 100% or 50% of the donation amount depending upon the criteria set by the Income Tax Act.

For any NGO to be fully operational and functional, financial contributions are essential. Every denomination of your money is utilized towards achieving the agenda of the NGO If you donate to Akshaya Patra, your money will be used to providing wholesome, mid-day meals to school children going to Government and Government-aided schools.

Making donations for such initiatives will make lives of other people better. Apart from that, the joy that you experience on thinking ‘That child wasn’t going to school because he couldn’t concentrate in class due to hunger. But because I donated for the child’s meal, he doesn’t miss a day of going to school.’ This is when you are a proud human being.

If you want to identify yourself as life-changer, contribute regularly to any charity that you can connect with. Click here to make your donation today! Your efforts today will build a better, healthy and energetic generation tomorrow.

Akshaya Patra provides midday meal to 1.8 million+ children across India

Midday meal is a provision made by the Government of India to provide cooked meals to school children studying in Government schools and Government-aided schools. This initiative is the largest school meal programme in the world.

To maximise the benefits of this programme, Government has partnered with NGOs to mobilise community support and reach children even at the grassroot level. One of the pioneer NGOs that stepped in as an implementing partner for the Mid-Day Meal Scheme is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. A non-profit organization (NPO) in India, Akshaya Patra has been providing freshly cooked, nutritious, and locally palatable meals to children for the past 19 years. Akshaya Patra is headquartered in Bengaluru with a PAN India reach.

Akshaya Patra was established in 2000 with the vision,
‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’.

During the initial days, this children NGO provided meals to 1,500 children in five Government schools in Bengaluru. Witnessing the critical need of this meal in supporting schooling of children, Akshaya Patra gradually expanded its programme to other locations. In the meantime, the Supreme Court of India also read out a landmark mandate on 28 November 2001 stating, “We direct the State Governments/Union Territories to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary School with a prepared mid-day meal.” This mandate was a welcome progression for Akshaya Patra and this non-profit organization (NPO) in India partnered with the Government to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

Today, Akshaya Patra takes care of daily school meals of
1.8 million+ children across India.

By operating in a public-private partnership model, which has also been recognised as one of the best replicable models, this children NGO expanded its operations from one location to 51 locations. Currently, it has its own kitchens and delivery logistics across 12 states and 2 Union Territories to prepare and deliver midday meals to schools. All its kitchens follow industry standard operating processes with utmost adherence to cleanliness and hygiene practices.

Midday meal is a great incentive for families belonging to challenging socio-economic backgrounds to send their children to school.

Over the years, it has been observed that the school meals open the gates of school for children who would have to otherwise work to earn a square meal. The midday meals have:

• increased school enrolment
• regularised attendance
• decreased drop-out rate
• improved health of children
• boosted academic performance
• supported continuity of schooling

Support this non-profit organization (NPO) in India to reach more children with nutritious school meals. Your support will uphold health, education, and dreams of millions of children across India.

NGO: Akshaya Patra’s work in Rajasthan

Rajasthan, a state in the northwest part of India is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh most populated. It is the land of royals, forts, palaces, and rich culture and heritage. But amidst the kaleidoscopic outlook lies a gripping concern. Rajasthan has the fourth lowest literacy rate in the country and has the lowest female literacy rate too (Census 2011). It is also one among the BIMARU states that has lowest literacy rate and learning outcomes; the other states being Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Rajasthan is also battling high rate of out of school and school drop-out rate. The Government has been taking several steps to address this situation with mid-day meal in schools being one of them. As a supporting arm to the Government efforts, The Akshaya Patra Foundation stepped in to the state as an NGO in Rajasthan in 2004.

Background of Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an 18-year old children charity implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across India. It is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka and has its operations in 12 states and 1 Union Territory including Rajasthan.

At present, Akshaya Patra provides daily school meals to 1,765,436 children studying in 16,785 Government schools and Government-aided schools situated in 49 locations.

Advent in Rajasthan

In the year 2004, Akshaya Patra expanded its operations to Rajasthan by establishing a centralised kitchen in Jaipur. Since then there has been no looking back. Today, this children charity nourishes 2,57,879 children across the state on each school day. Below is a quick look at the location-wise operations and the number of children getting benefitted from the meals provided by this NGO in Rajasthan:

 

Where is the meal prepared?

Akshaya Patra has its own kitchen in each location to prepare meals for the children. Among all the Akshaya Patra kitchens in Rajasthan, the Jaipur, Nathdwara, and Ajmer kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified and the remaining kitchens are in the process of certification. All the kitchens – both centralised and decentralised – strictly adhere to hygiene and cleanliness practices while preparing meals. All the centralised kitchens are equipped with hi-tech machines to prepare large quantity meals in a hygienic way each day. Each of the kitchens have a dedicated fleet of customised delivery vehicles to deliver meals hot and fresh to schools. This NGO in Rajasthan follows Kaizen, Continuous Improvement Projects and Six Sigma methodologies in its kitchens to increase productivity and efficiency of the cooking process.

Menu served

Being a children charity, Akshaya Patra ensures that each child relishes their meals by following a menu that suits the local taste buds along with being nutritious. So, as an NGO in Rajasthan, the Foundation’s menu comprises of:

• roti (Indian flatbread)
• dal (lentil curry)
• rice, mixed vegetable curry
• kadhi (curd-based curry)
• biscuits
• khichdi (a dish made of rice, lentils, and vegetables)
• sweet daliya (a cereal-based dish)
• cake
• biscuit
• kheer (rice-based Indian dessert)

Conclusion

Akshaya Patra wants to expand its reach and benefit more children in the state with wholesome meals and rightful education.

Join hands with Akshaya Patra and be a contributing citizen to make Rajasthan a truly royal state with healthy, educated, and vibrant children.

Celebrate Teachers’ Day by supporting a child’s meal!

“Teachers are the backbone of the education system”
said Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Hence, upon becoming the President of India, when some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday on 5^th September, he replied, “Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if September 5^th is observed as Teachers’ Day.” And since then, his words are being followed every year, across the country.

There could be hardly anyone who doesn’t remember their teachers, be they from school or college. We all have had our favourites and not-so-favourites, but whatever it is, reminiscing about the good old learning days, the memories of our teachers have been deeply etched in our hearts. And Teachers’ Day definitely gives us an opportunity to honour and celebrate the sincerity and dedication of our teachers who prepared us for where we are today!

Akshaya Patra’s bond with Teachers

Having been working as a mid-day meal NGO for the past 18+ years, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has a very close and amicable relationship with teachers. At present, Akshaya Patra provides freshly cooked wholesome lunch to 17,65,597 children studying in 15,668 Government & Government-aided schools. These schools are situated in 45 locations across Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.

The teachers of these schools have always been in the forefront to support proper implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Programme. They have always provided regular feedbacks and exhibited complete willingness to help the Foundation in constantly improving the programme.

Stories of teachers

On the humble occasion of Teachers’ Day, here is quoting some of the teachers from the Foundation’s beneficiary schools:

• Jai Pinto, Physical Education Teacher, Aloysius School, Cleveland Town, Bengaluru says, “The school’s association with Akshaya Patra has been very fulfilling. Children are happy with the wholesome nutritious meals provided. There are fewer dropouts from the marginalised section of the society and I have seen a significant improvement in the enthusiasm levels of children.”
• Ismail Malik, Principal, Antti Kumar Prathamik Shala, Padra Taluk, Vadodara, Gujarat says, “The mid-day meal has brought a tremendous decline in the student drop-out rate. In the primary school, the increase in attendance is nearly as high as 60% to 70%. The numerous awards that now decorate the school office are a testimony to this.”
• Ranganath, Head Master, Government High School, Policy Colony, Karnataka says, “The government, by partnering with organisations like Akshaya Patra have ensured that children receive tasty and nutritious meals. The programme has been successful in reducing child labour and improving school enrolment and attendance.”

Make their story, yours!

On this Teachers’ Day, choose to share the care of these teachers and hundreds more like them by opting for online donation towards the Mid-Day Meal Programme. The mid-day meals greatly contribute towards better school attendance, improved health and concentration of children. Thus, your contribution towards the Mid-Day Meal Programme will not only help children but also significantly help teachers in their efforts to impart education.

Step ahead, and honour your teacher this Teachers’ Day
by caring for meals of a student!