Health is wealth for children

HEALTH IS WEALTH FOR
CHILDREN

An NGO's effort to make health is wealth for children
‘Health is wealth’ is a familiar phrase and it becomes even more important with respect to
children. The first five years of a child is considered to be the most crucial growth phase as a
significant amount of development and learning happens during these formative years. And, an
important aspect that promotes healthy growth is consumption of nutritious diet. Nutrition
improves cognitive functioning, appropriate physical development, maintains energy levels, and
provides enhanced immunity against infections and diseases. And, there is enough evidence to
establish the relationship between nutrition, health, and learning.
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So that every child receives the best of nutrition, many NGOs have taken it up as their core cause
to provide wholesome meals to children mainly targeting the lower socio-economic strata of the
society. One such NGO for children in India is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Established in June
2000, this NGO implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme in government schools across the
country with the vision ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’. For
the past 17 years, the Foundation has been tirelessly working towards providing freshly cooked,
nutritious school lunch to school children so that children continue schooling and at the same
time benefit from the programme health-wise.
Before talking further about this NGO and its work towards promoting health and education,
here is a list of reasons that explains the significance of investing in nutrition, health, and
education of children:
Thus, it is evident that nutrition, health, and education become critically important during the
growth years of children.
Well, heeding to the above-mentioned aspects of nutrition and health, Akshaya Patra, the NGO
for children strives to provide ‘unlimited food for education’. In order to maximise the benefit of
the Mid-Day Meal Programme, Akshaya Patra operates to formats of kitchen facility – centralised
kitchen to provide school lunch in urban and semi-urban areas, and decentralised kitchens to
provide school lunch in remote areas. To ensure meals are nutritious, the NGO employs various
quality measures in its operations – right from procurement of raw materials to delivering the
cooked meals. Raw materials are procured based on Supplier Quality Management System and
are inspected as per Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). All the kitchens follow
the FIFO (First In First Out) and FEFO (First Expiry First Out) methods while issuing the raw
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material for production. Washed and sterilised vessels and tools are used for cutting, cooking
and transporting food. All employees are trained in good hygiene practices and food safety
measures. It is mandatory for each member in the kitchen to follow the hygiene chart comprising
of daily shower, use of clean uniforms, head caps, face masks to cover the mouth and nose area,
hand gloves, gumboots, other protective gears and hand sanitisation. Cooked food is transported
in insulated vehicles to retain the freshness and quality of meals. Continual Improvement
Projects, Six Sigma methodologies, 5S, GMP, Lean and Kaizen are some of the process
improvement methods implemented across all kitchens.
This charitable trust understands the value of each penny and hence on an average, 92% of the
total donation is used towards meeting the programme cost and 8% towards the programme
management cost. Such effective management of funds and operations has led the Foundation
to grow steadily over the years. From feeding just 1,500 children in five government schools of
Bengaluru in 2000, Akshaya Patra has expanded its reach to more than 1.7 million children across
12 states of India. It has impacted young lives with wholesome meals on every school day. So,
even though Akshaya Patra is a mid-day meal NGO, it wouldn’t be wrong to say donate for
education in India because its service of 17 years has been instrumental in bringing children to
school and empowering them with education.
In a nutshell, to create a healthy society, we must focus on the health of children. And, to create
a prosperous society, we must focus on the education of children. Only healthy children can
contribute to the socio-economic growth of themselves and the society.
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The Akshaya Patra Foundation © 2017