End Classroom Hunger by providing mid-day meals in India

Despite India’s steady economic growth, the world’s largest democracy still faces substantial, interconnected development challenges: poverty, illiteracy, and food insecurity. According to the World Bank, thirty percent of India’s population lives below the poverty line. Roughly 380 million people in the country survive on less than $1.25 a day.
Although more than 96% of all children in India enroll in primary school only 58.3% enroll in upper primary school. With a full 40% of those dropping out, 60% supplement the family income by doing domestic work. Against a backdrop of extreme poverty, families are often forced to pull their children from school to help put food on the table.
For the children that can attend and stay in school, hunger negatively impacts learning. Studies conducted by UNICEF and other international organizations have demonstrated that children experiencing hunger are more likely to have problems with memory and concentration because their brains do not have the energy to carry out these functions. Childhood hunger causes poor classroom attendance, inability to focus in school, and poor academics.
The complexity and interconnectedness of these challenges in India warrant solutions that address education from multiple lenses, including nutrition and food. Food security and education have the potential to uplift not only a family but also the entire society by breaking the vicious ‘poverty-hunger-illiteracy’ cycle.
Against the above scenario, The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s work is extremely relevant – with the vision that “No child in India shall be deprived of Education because of Hunger,” our mission is to end classroom hunger amidst government school children by providing mid-day meals; thus, providing a strong incentive for children to stay in school and learn as much as possible. This has been derived out of the understanding that education holds the key to progress and is the single-most opportunity to enable children to exit poverty.
To reach out to children across the country, including the remotest corners, Akshaya Patra operates two formats of kitchen infrastructure: the centralized model and the decentralized model. The choice is based on the need, terrain, and accessibility of the location. Centralized kitchens are highly mechanized units, with state-of-the-art technology to enable the preparation of up to 100,000 meals in just under four hours. Decentralized kitchens, on the other hand, are set up within the school premises and operated by women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under the guidance and supervision of Akshaya Patra.
By forging a strategic Public-Private Partnership with the Government of India, the State Governments, and donors, we have been able to scale our services across the country, providing wholesome meals to over 2.2 million children, every school day. Our innovative program design combines technological innovation and government collaboration to create a highly effective, sustainable, scalable, and replicable school meal program. It costs only $20 to feed a child for an entire academic year. Our PPP model has allowed us to lower the costs and reach twice as many children as we would have if we were operating without our strategic partnership with the government.