'Akshaya Patra' to add 70K more students in scheme.
Akshaya Patra means a pot, in which the food never gets over and Akshaya Patra Foundation is working to realise the meaning of 'Akshaya Patra' for the children coming from rural and financially weak families.
The NGO, promoted by the sages and devotees of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is coming up to the expectations of the schools and students.
The foundation will be adding 70,000 more students to its present serving capacity of 1.60 lakh in Gujarat's primary schools through its Mid-Day-Meal scheme, from the academic year 2010.
Talking about this, Jaganmohan Krishna Das, president, Akshaya Patra Foundation Gujarat, said, "We started this initiative with the vision that "No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger. We are feeding them in municipal corporation schools and in rural areas.
Our children are the future of India and we will be getting great citizens from these children. So, with the Akshaya Patra programme we are working in the direction of providing nutrition and education through Mid-Day-Meal programme in schools.
Eating well helps increase attendance of students and nurtures the future citizens. Our aim is to serve 50 lakh children in the schools by 2020."
Mrugesh Trivedi, manager, public relations for Akshaya Patra, said, "We started our operations in Gujarat's 200 school in 2007 with 40,000 serving capacity for the students. We are working in Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts' primary schools.
We have got good response from the students, as the attendance in the schools, in which we are serving has gone up from 25% to 75%. Many schools want Akshaya Patra in their MDM programme. "
Lack of funds is hindering the organisation's programme. "Our cost per dish per student is Rs. 5 and we are getting Rs. 2.5 from the government and rest comes through donations. We are invited by many schools, but we can't reach them, as we don't want to compromise on our nutritious food quality."
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