This Gurugram school has been providing nutritious mid-day meals to students for 10 years
Diksha School based in Gurugram, founded by Captain (Retd) Rajesh Sharan and Shanta Sharan in 2008 feeds around 410 students with nutritious mid-day meals.
There are 195.9 million undernourished people in India alone. According to the UN, nearly half of all deaths in children under five are attributable to undernutrition and undernutrition puts children at a greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections, and delays recovery.
The government and various NGOs across India are trying to address the issue with different initiatives. For instance, Diksha School, a Gurugram-based educational institution has been providing a well-balanced meal to its students right from its inception in 2008.
What also makes it different from other schools is that it also provides free education for the disadvantaged sections of society. Founded by a former Air Force pilot, Captain (Retd) Rajesh Sharan and his wife, Shanta Sharan, the total strength of the school today is 410 students.
Many of the students are children of migrant workers from other states, living in slums, and come from weaker sections living in Chauma village, Dharam colony, Caterpuri, and New Palam Vihar.
Image: NDTV
The school began with only 13 children who had no means to support their education. Shanta Sharan, Co-founder of Diksha School told NDTV,
“We observed that the children were very weak. Quite often we saw that the children used to come to school without having proper breakfast. This is because their parents were daily wage earners and migrant workers like construction workers, rickshaw pullers, and domestic help, who were required to leave for work early in the morning and come back only in the evening.”
Due to this, the children fell sick more often than usual, hence the duo realised that besides education they needed to provide these children with nutrition as well.
The nutritious mid-day meals
The school has two full-time cooks who prepare the wholesome meals and serve them to the students. The meals are also tasted by a designated team of volunteers before they are served.
The menu is designed in such a way that it meets the nutritional needs of the children. Speaking to NDTV, Principal, Vandana Aneja said,
“The lunch usually includes legumes, sambhar, rice, khichdi, and vegetables. We try to make the food wholesome. We can't give them chapatis because cooking chapatis for 410 children and providing them on time is not possible now. We try to put in variety like dal-palak, idli, soya chunks.”
In a day, the cook utilises 16 kg of rice, 14 kg of lentils and six to eight kgs of vegetables, which costs Rs 3,500. To fund the initiative and the schools’ efforts, the team gathers financial support from volunteers, neighbours, and corporates through fundraising campaigns.
Image: NDTV
According to Milaap, McCORMICK India (IT Support) in collaboration with Kohinoor donates the monthly intake of rice for the school.
Expressing the dire situation over not being able to afford food, Rajni, the 29-year-old mother of eight-year-old Neha who studies at Diksha School said,
“While we earn mainly for food and shelter, we hardly think about nutrition. We eat whatever is most affordable. I have a family of seven people and each one needs to be fed. Usually, girls and women in our community eat after the males have eaten. Sometimes we get stomach full food, sometimes we don’t. Neha is at least getting a one-time meal properly at her school. I am very happy with this”, reports NDTV.
Overall development
Besides providing nutritious meals, the school also makes sure the students are physically healthy. It conducts one yoga class, and has a game period and physical training period every week.
Not only students but also their parents are taught about alcohol and substance abuse through workshops led by Aastha Gulati, the media coordinator of the school.
(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)
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