Life can be challenging when you are a girl child in India. Previously bound by social custom, girl children in India were either not provided with education at all, forced to drop out of school and help at home or married young to ease the financial burden on the family. But today that picture is slowly and undeniably changing.

By adopting the vision that ‘no child in India shall be deprived of an education because of hunger,’ The Akshaya Patra Foundation effectively found a vehicle to bring the country’s daughters under the umbrella of government education.

With the help of the state government, the foundation ensures that every day, each student shall be served a hot, nutritious and freshly cooked mid-day meal, suddenly making getting an education an exciting prospect for both parents and their children.

Young Rabeena who studies in D.K.Z.P, Modern Higher Primary School, Mangalore works hard at getting her education, studying a couple of hours every day. Her mother who studied only till the fifth grade is adamant that both her children will complete their education. Rabeena’s mother says, “The best part of the mid-day meal is that the menu has a variety of dishes and every day the children get something different to eat. The food is nutritious and is provided not only to the primary classes but also to the higher grades.”

For Sarita, a student of the Government High School, Makali, Bangalore North District, these mid-day meals have changed her life. Now a grade ten student, she has been a beneficiary of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme since the first grade. She expresses her pleasure over the programme saying, “I have been a beneficiary of the Akshaya Patra meal since I was a little girl and still love to eat it every day. Like many of my friends and classmates, I too depend on this meal to get through the day.”

For students like Rabeena and Sarita who have their whole lives ahead of them, The Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme has shone a beacon of hope on their future. The 2011 census, which indicated a 2001-2011 nationwide decadal literacy growth of 9.2 per cent shows us that we are getting there. In 2011, the literacy rates of age seven and above was 82.14 per cent for men and 65.46 per cent for women.

While progress may be slow, it is still heartening to know that at the end of it all, where there is a will, there is most certainly, a way.

The chugging of the mill by the yard,

Have no ears of expectation and heed.

The toots and tweets of the mobile jungle

Could raise no alarm indeed.

When the clock keeps counting

Hunger in the midst surmounting

But hope in fix support the earnest–

A day to change for the best.

The heartbeats are almost palpable

For anyone to stick a label.

The eyes of unblemished faith gleam–

A few smiles settle the aura

What shall come is not a story,

But a promise that stays and lives

Feeds the tender minds and sinews

To face each day renewed.

It takes turns and burns the miles

Loaded with sundry reasons to smile.

The numbed clang of steels inside,

With fresh meals invite all visitors young.

It changes lane and appears on the vanes,

The colour azure stands apart,

The marks and symbols are signs of scheme

That would change a child’s dream.

That little blue bus hopping on the pebbles

Has arrived to feed the little folks.

Every day is marked a good day–

With smiles and giggles of innocence,

Echo rebound the compound wall.

The sight is a worthy scene to reveal

How little can have so much weight

Enough to drive us further ahead.

It is not just a meal a day.

Grains add fuel to aspirations

Soup that nourish the souls and spirits

The blue bus does bring light and delight.

Children sing ode and praises after,

Renewed strength and vigour run their moods

They know a brighter day lies in wait

A day of new lessons and visions.

The blue bus of hope and promise ply–

A trend of an unbroken tread each day

Many dreams need a fresh morning

Many wishes need to be true

Many miles on their little legs

Many songs to sing along

Many lessons to learn, books to read

For a better, brighter tomorrow to come.