Program Update
The noble cause of The Akshaya Patra Foundation began with serving school lunches to about 1,500 children in 2000 to 5 government schools in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The organisation, known for its dedicated service, now aspires to reach out to 5 million children daily by 2020.
Starting the cause with just 1 van delivering food from a kitchen in Bengaluru across the schools, the Akshaya Patra Foundation now serves over 1.7 million children across 14,173 schools in 12 states across India.
The programme embraced the vision that -
"No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger."
Today, through the partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, as well as philanthropic donors; the organization runs the world's largest mid-day meal programme. Built on a public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver a nutritious and hygienic school lunch.
Story from the field
As she stood there looking at the bunch of medals that she won over the last four years, her eyes twinkled with a sense of achievement. A Std VI student from the Salempur-Pataura Primary School in Kakori, Lucknow, Archana has become an inspiration for children not just in her village, but also in neighboring villages.
Archana's tryst with track-and-field began when she was in Std III in Village Panchayat Primary School in Ramnagar, Lucknow. It was Abdul Rauf -- 'Rauf Sir' for her and the family -- who introduced her to the world of athletics.
In 2016, she participated in four events: long jump, and 100m, 200m, and 400m sprint, and bagged Gold in each of them.
Rauf Sir's contribution to her life has been inspiring and motivating for her. He is full of praises for Archana. "We identified her talent in Std III itself and decided to groom her at the young age," he said. All along, Rauf Sir and other teachers continued to support her; they built a sand pit for her to practice long jump; they helped her with the route, and even ensured that she doesn't miss out on academics because of her practice.
Talking about Akshaya Patra's meals served at school, Archana says, "When I am training, I need to eat a lot of nutritious food. So I am happy that we get it in our school." It is not surprising that she looks forward to Akshaya Patra's food every day. Her favorite is Dal Chawal. Archana wants to join the police force and serve the nation.
"If her father was there," she said, "he would have been very happy. In fact, he would have done much more to see Archana succeed."
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