Monday 28 July 2014

Importance of mid-day meal in India

 

The programme - mid-day meal India is one of the potential steps taken by the Government of India to promote education. Realising the potential of the mid-day meal India, the Government also wants more and more participation from NGOs in India. One such NGO in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation that has taken up this endeavour since 2000.

Akshaya Patra began implementing the mid-day meal programme in June 2000. Later, in 2003 when the mid-day meal India programme was mandated centrally by the Government of India, this NGO in India partnered with the Government to provide cooked meals at Government schools. This partnership was a welcome progression for the NGO in India tackling classroom hunger. The Central Mid-Day Meal India scheme works towards achieving six main objectives:

i. Eliminating classroom hunger
ii. Increasing school enrolment
iii. Increasing school attendance
iv. Improving socialisation among castes
v. Addressing malnutrition
vi. Women empowerment

Mid-day meal India plays a vital role especially in the education. It works as an incentive for parents to send their children to school with the hope for at least one nutritious meal for the day. The children of Government school mostly come from economically backward families. The difficult financial conditions of these children force them to work and earn a living rather than receiving education. Thus, even though education schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan are being implemented across the country there is a large section of the society that prefers the children to be an extra hand to earn for the family than go to school. In such a socio-economic scenario, food plays a significant role. The introduction of mid-day meal across Government schools of India did make a difference to the enrolment and attendance of the children.

As a NGO in India Akshaya Patra is well aware of the positive impacts of the free school lunch programme and thus strives to serve mid-day meals to more and more children in India. The Public-Private Partnership model employed by this NGO in India is exemplary in running this programme. Akshaya Patra receives Grants and Subsidies from the Central Government and various State Governments where it is currently functional. Apart from this Governmental support it is backed by the contributions of the generous donors. By the days, the need of the programme is ever increasing and thus the requirement of resources too.

This NGO in India seeks the support of corporates and individuals to completely achieve its vision of "No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger". It offers online donation platform as one of the quickest and easiest way for donors to contribute towards this cause. A user-friendly method, online donation offers you the ease of charity from your own space and time. It also allows you to receive 100% tax exemption for any contribution made above Rs. 500. With online donation you are just a click away to gift a healthy and educated future to a child.

Feed a child today!

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