The Akshaya Patra Foundation, world’s largest NGO run school meal program bags the Tech Award 2009, a signature program of The Tech Museum, San Jose, California, USA. Akshaya Patra won the Microsoft Education Awards, in the category of education under The Tech Museum Awards 2009. The Award was presented with a cash prize of $ 50,000 at a glittering ceremony in San Jose, USA, for social entrepreneurs leveraging technology to benefit humanity.
Akshaya Patra has won accolades from all corners for its yeomen work for the mid-day meal program in India and their astounding performance in feeding over one million school children every day. Recently former US president Bill Clinton commended Akshaya Patra during his key note address at the PAN IIT conference in Chicago.
Akshaya Patra, was selected for being a pioneering program in India’s social and developmental sector, using technology extensively to provide freshly prepared, wholesome meals to over one million school children daily in over 6,500 government schools in seven states of India This meal is an incentive for children to come to school, stay in school and provides them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning. The program is a strategic intervention aimed at unlocking the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger.
Shri. Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “This award is actually a recognition of thousands of supporters from the corporate world, individual donors, professional governance provided by my co-trustees, board of advisors, support of the state and central government and thousands of Akshaya Patra staff, to bring a smile on the faces of the underprivileged children of our country and to empower them with education.”
He further added “We have been following the best practices of the corporate world in terms of transparency and governance which we believe is essential to conduct the program on such a grand scale. We also thank God for making us instruments in this great service and pray that we will be able to extend this service to lakhs of more children to support them with good education.”
