At Akshaya Patra, we have always believed that no child should have to choose between food and education. For the last 25 years, our mid-day meals have fuelled dreams across the country. Now we have taken a vital step forward with the launch of our Morning Nutrition Programme, a supplementary feeding initiative designed to bridge the critical nutrition gap in the early school hours. While a wholesome lunch sustains the day, a nourishing start is just as crucial for a child’s mind and body.
Why Morning Nutrition Matters
Every morning, many children come to school without having a proper breakfast. As a result, they are low on energy in the early morning hours, which, in turn, hinders their cognitive function and leads to reduced attentiveness in the classroom. In the long term, this can lead to gaps in learning and hamper their academic performance.
While the Government of India’s flagship PM POSHAN initiative (Mid-Day Meal Scheme) addresses long-term classroom hunger and malnutrition, the hours between breakfast and lunch remain crucial for learning and attentiveness. The Morning Nutrition Programme directly addresses this gap by providing ready-to-eat protein-rich snacks.
The mid-day meal meets about 35-40 percent of a child’s daily nutritional needs. Add to it the morning nutrition component, and it increases to 60-65 percent. The programme has double benefits: first, children are more likely to arrive at school on time, and second, they are less likely to be distracted or fatigued during lessons. Simply put, the Morning Nutrition Programme can boost our collective efforts towards improving children’s health and learning potential.
In fact, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 states, ‘The morning hours after a nutritious breakfast can be particularly productive for the study of cognitively more demanding subjects.’
Making an Impact
In just six months, we have served over 45 million breakfasts to schoolchildren across India. Our goal is to serve 200 million nutritious breakfasts every year. By leveraging our existing mid-day meal infrastructure, i.e., a network of kitchens covering 23,000+ schools across 78 locations in 16 states and 3 UTs, we can deliver these breakfasts at no additional administrative cost for mid-day meal beneficiaries.
As a part of Akshaya Patra’s Morning Nutrition Programme, beneficiary children receive ready-to-eat protein-rich snacks, such as millet and peanut chikkis, roasted chana, protein bars and puffed rice snacks. Each serving delivers between 150-235 calories and 4.5-9.6 grams of protein.
Alignment with UN SDGs
The Morning Nutrition Programme is a strategically designed School Feeding Programme (SFP) component, which complements the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Programme by building on the same. In doing so, it aligns closely with the goals of national initiatives such as PM POSHAN while also contributing to global development agendas like the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), directly SDG 2 – Zero Hunger and SDG 4 – Quality Education and indirectly SDG 1, SDG 5 and SDG 10. It also supports India’s long-term developmental vision under the Viksit Bharat 2047 framework.
You Can Make a Difference
For ₹1,160 a year, or just ₹5 a day, you can ensure a child starts every school day nourished, energised and ready to learn. Your support will help us reach more children, energise more minds, fuel more dreams and give every child’s school day a powerful start.
When you donate online to support the Morning Nutrition Programme, you help ensure that no child has to forfeit learning because of coming to school on an empty stomach.
