Akshaya Patra kitchens are crucial to the Foundation’s vision of serving 3 million children by 2025. These kitchens are large-scale, state-of-the-art facilities where meals are prepared for school children. In January 2024, the Foundation inaugurated two kitchens in January at Panvel in Maharashtra and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. The Panvel kitchen is the Foundation’s 68th kitchen and was inaugurated on 3 January, 2024. Meanwhile, the Hazaribagh kitchen, which is the 69th kitchen, was inaugurated on 19 January, 2024.
Background
People leave their homes at early hours and return after sunset in Hazaribagh and Panvel as the main source of income coming from coal mining activities and agriculture. This makes it difficult for parents to prepare breakfast or lunch for their children and most of them go to schools with empty stomach. This affects their attendance, focus on academics and other activities and performance in general.
Akshaya Patra has expanded its reach through Panvel and Hazaribagh kitchens to break this cycle and implement Government of India’s PM POSHAN Abhiyaan. Panvel kitchen has the capacity to serve 10,000 children while the Hazaribagh kitchen has the capacity to cook mid-day meals for 1 lakh children every day.
A lot of children only attend school because they know they will receive a healthy midday meal. In addition to addressing hunger, the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan has a favourable effect on enrollment, attendance and retention rates. Having wholesome meals enables students to focus in class, learn effectively and ultimately create a brighter future.
Here’s what a teacher from a beneficiary school of the Panvel kitchen has to say about the midday meals.
Anupama Dambre, Principal, Gyan Jyoti Savitribai Phule Mahanagar Palika School, Panvel
“Every day, a teacher only wants to see her students happy and healthy. I am grateful to Akshaya Patra for providing my school’s students with hot, nutritious meals. The majority of these children come from homes that struggle to manage even one healthy meal every day. They are able to focus better on their studies and other co-curricular activities because of the meals given at school.”
For over 23 years, the Foundation has worked towards alleviation of classroom hunger, encouraging marginalised children to get an education and aspire for a brighter future. When you donate to feed the children, these meals act as an incentive for children to attend school every day. Thus, increasing attendance and enrolment rates. The meals also encourage them to continue their education. With the addition of the two new kitchens, Akshaya Patra hopes to impact more young minds.
Meals for Dreams
In order to address the problem of hunger and malnutrition in Indian classrooms, Akshaya Patra is working with the help of the central and state governments, as well as individual and corporate donors, philanthropists. The initiative, which began with 1,500 students in five Bengaluru schools, is already feeding over 2.1 million students nationwide. The NGO has been successful in expanding its care to remote locations with the goal of guaranteeing nourishment for every child.
