New Academic Year, Back to Studies and Mid-Day Meals

With just one step, you can empower the future of India. Serve mid-day meals when children come back to school.

Summer vacation ends. A new academic year begins. Schools once again echo with laughter, joy and excitement and new dreams. As children come back to school carrying fresh textbooks, sharpened pencils and hopes, it is important to keep their enthusiasm aflame.

Mid-Day Meals For a Brighter Future

The Government of India introduced PM POSHAN (Mid-Day Meal Programme) to meet the nutritional demands of children by serving mid-day meals at schools. Since 1995, year after year, the number of children benefitting from this programme has kept growing, showing significant improvement in educational outcomes.

School reopens. Let Learning begin anew. Serve mid-day meals

Main realms of improvement in school with the introduction of such nutritious food programme

• Enrolment and Attendance

Many families in India are often forced to make a stark choice between the education of their children and the day-to-day sustenance. Instead of schools, they send their children to farm fields, manage household chores or care for siblings.

With the introduction of MDM, one square meal is assured in schools every day. This reduces the burden of providing nutritious lunch every day, incentivizing parents to send their children to school. Thus, many children who earlier missed classes now attend school regularly.

The programme has also shown proven improvement in reducing health-related issues such as stunting, wasting and anaemia, thus strengthening the foundation of a healthy childhood.

• Drop Out

While enrolment may increase in the early schooling years, many children drop out of school during adolescence due to financial pressures. In low-income families, older children are expected to contribute to the family income, thus education takes a backseat. Mid-day meals act as a strong support system for such families.  It encourages children to never compromise on their studies and dreams.

Beyond classroom hunger, the programme also contributes to:

• Bridge gender disparity by encouraging parents to send their girl children back to school, thus bringing more women in workspace, empowering them.
• Improve socialisation as children sit together for lunch, relishing tasty, nutritious meals, without any thought of class, caste or other discriminatory divisions.
• Supporting better academic performance, as proper nutrition helps them sit in class focused and ready to learn

Why Supporting NGOs that Serve Mid-Day meals Matters

NGOs play a critical role in implementing large-scale meal programmes. They work closely with the government bodies and communities to ensure meals reach children efficiently and hygienically, making a difference at a grassroots level. They mobilise resources, advocate for the cause and maximise the impact. These organisations:

·        Set up centralised kitchens

·        Prepare meals following the government’s nutrition guidelines.

·        Monitor meal quality and hygiene

·        Collect feedback from children, teachers and parents.

One such NGO in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Akshaya Patra – Nourishing Children Across India

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that works as an implementing partner of the government to serve nutritious mid-day meals to children across India. Currently feeding 2.35 million children in 16 states and 3 UTs, the organisation’s vision is to ensure ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ In this endeavour, the organisation continues to make significant strides. Recently, it celebrated 25 years of service and the milestone of serving 5 billion meals was commemorated by the Hon’ble President of India, Droupadi Murmu, at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi.  

In addition to serving mid-day meals, the Foundation also supports children with healthy morning nutrition snacks such as chikkis, roasted peanuts, helping them to stay energetic till lunchtime.

Their mission is to serve mid-day meals to 3 million children every day and achieve 3 million servings of morning nutrition by 2030.

Be the Reason a Child Comes Back to School With Hope

As children come back to school this academic year, let’s become their best companions by serving proper nutrition every day.

When you contribute ₹1,500 to Akshaya Patra, you feed one child for an academic year. Donate online