Recognizing the Importance of Early Childhood Development

Every child’s development begins in the womb. As their body begins to develop during initial stages, they not only need constant care but also need quality provisions such as hygiene, diet and a good environment. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) fact sheet, Early Childhood Development (ECD) takes place from birth until the child is of eight years.

World Health Day, observed last week, helps us understand and recognise the different aspects of people’s health. Being considered as one of the top NGOs in the country, Akshaya Patra is doing its bit by feeding millions of children every day with nutritious wholesome meals and the organisation would like to reiterate a few factors that play an important role in the development of every child.

Child’s health

The initial stage of a child is sensitive and vulnerable – the child would need constant care as they go through feeding and development. Through clean water and good food, a child’s health can be prioritized. However, the most important checklist to ensure every child is healthy is vaccinations against infections and diseases. One of India’s wide spread case was polio and in 2014, WHO reported that India was polio-free (after having no fresh reports for three consecutive years).

Environment & experiences

Child’s environment and the experiences they go through help them in developing their mind. Let’s say, a child is visiting a park – the kind of environment, conversations, experiences and observations will define a child’s understanding about the surrounding. Therefore, it is very crucial to expose the child to a positive environment and also help them and allow them to experience different aspects of life – childhood and learning.

Education

Schools expose children different people, different subjects and will also brighten their mind with knowledge. The ECD phase (when the child is in primary school), they start forming discovering different subjects and topics of interest.

How is Akshaya Patra playing a role in children’s life?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India feeding over 1.6 million school children every day with nutritious meals. The organisation takes pride in having encouraged millions of children, through mid-day meals, to enroll in schools and be a part of education system. With support from government, corporates, donors and many volunteers who have contributed to the cause, the organisation has grown in leaps and bounds. Today, the organisation is feeding the children in 11 states of India with Mid-Day Meal and Anganwadi feeding programme.

You can take part in our charity fundraising.

Charity and festivity

India is known for its varied culture and festivities. Aside the regular festivals it is also a destination for splendid weddings and receptions. Not just Indians but foreign nationals too choose India to be the address for their weddings. Behind the brighter appearance of these celebrations and festivals, there exists a gripping reality of enormous food wastage and concerning hunger struck population.

To slightly mitigate the two stark situations, there are NGOs that work towards procuring the left-over food of the celebrations and distribute among the needy. However, this does not provide a permanent solution to the hunger situation prevailing in the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a NGO that implements the mid-day meal programme across Government schools in India. This Foundation prepares fresh and nutritious meals for Government school children. It also provides meals at Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Akshaya Patra has observed that to tackle the critical situation of hunger it has to be dealt with at the root cause i.e. poverty. Thus, by providing mid-day meal to children it also incentivises the child to attend school regularly which in turn allows the child to receive education. In line with this, Akshaya Patra ensures that the meal served should meet the local palate of the children.

Having been implementing the midday meal programme well over a decade, Akshaya Patra has amply gauged the potential of societal involvement in countering hunger and promoting education thereby resulting in eradication of poverty. Thus Akshaya Patra has made available the platform to volunteer and contribute in all possible ways. One of the ways to get involved with the activities of the Foundation is to make a charity during festivals and celebrations like weddings, birthdays, success parties and the like. As we gear up for celebrations, more often than not we miss out to consider our counterparts who struggle each day to get a plateful of meal. Remaining sensitive to the basic need of food, you can choose to make a donation for the underserved children as you revel in your festivity.

Your contribution will be a gift for the millions of children who too hopes to on day break the shackles of poverty, hunger and illiteracy.

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