NGOs Can Make Education Better By Introducing Innovative Teaching Methods

Innovative teaching methodologies are the spirit of the times we live in. Be it private institutions, or the government-funded education system, there have been concerted efforts to make teaching as relevant as possible so that they meet the needs of the day.

Brain research has shown that certain methods and approaches can indeed enhance the learning process. By applying innovative learning and engaging techniques to classes is a win-win for both students and teachers.

Finding new and innovative methods of teaching is a crucial skill for high school teachers and The Akshaya Patra Foundation is supportive of innovations in education. Apart from different teaching methods, nutritious food also plays an important role in helping children absorb lessons. Over 1.6 million children across 12 states of India are benefitting from the school lunch programme.

Any efforts making education enjoyable for children should not be considered as charity for children. It’s a necessity and it’s the duty of the current generation.

Generational need

The children of today have shown they are capable of doing more than what the school needs them to. It is hence an opportunity for innovations rather than merely speeding up with the syllabus and this might not bear fruit.

Students are now being encouraged to express their opinions and are taught using mediums they are comfortable with. Rather than being stuck to their chairs, teachers are now nurturing tomorrow's leaders, rather than mere robots.

The transition is not going to be easy as education is a state subject and hence each state has to do more with less. However, this is not a suitable model for educational institutes, especially today when students are more dependent on technology.

But for advancements to be introduced successfully, stronger incentives need to be given.

Different Measures

One of the ways these two concepts can come together is through the Bond Measure. It is a method that creates innovative learning environments by re-thinking school designs. The ideas can provide students a thriving and fertile ground for their own ideas by providing them flexible spaces that can support a range of learning styles.

Such environments can foster learning and offer students choices on the type of education they prefer. This is in concurrence to what is called an Opportunity Culture, and it is different from traditional modes of education and school structures. This concept uses age and job redesign and technology suitable for the young minds.

The successful teachers are educationists who ensure enough progress each year to close the achievement gaps and who allowed their students to make significant progress.

Besides increasing the reach of influential instructors, this innovative culture also opens new channels of learning for the teachers themselves. Here there’s a Role of NGOs in ensuring that the new methods of teaching and learning are accessible even to the economically-challenged sections and is not restricted to the upper echelons of the society.

Most of the jobs that result from the Opportunity Culture are team-based and they also provide teachers school daytime planning and associations they need on a priority basis. In addition, this teaching culture can result in massive cost savings, which can go to paying excellent teachers the amount they are worth.

In the new methods of teaching, teachers can become leaders in the classroom rather than just instructors while leading multi-classroom teams and aiding students in developing their individual skills.

This, in turn, can motivate them to go above and beyond the call of duty to aid their students in becoming the best version of themselves, a concept that is the complete opposite of what traditional and arcane education represented.

Along with innovative teaching methodologies, pledge to feed the children with wholesome meal. Also enjoy tax exemptions. Donate today.

How Children in Telangana Benefit from the Mid-Day Meal Scheme

The menu of the mid-day meal being served in Telangana schools is a formidable example of how healthy food catered to children should be. Nutritious meals help children in fighting hidden hunger because they take care of essential minerals and vitamins that are important for the growth of a child.

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is run by The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Telangana. The menu of the mid-day meal comprises of pulses such as toor dal, fortified soy dal, green gram whole, urad dal, peas, moong dal, cow pea, green gram sprouts, soy products like- chunks, flakes, gram dal, bengal gram whole, channa dal, etc.

These are high in fibre, low in fat and have complex carbohydrates which is healthy for the body. Pulses provide folate that is known for lowering homocysteine levels. It has been proven that high homocysteine levels damage the lining of arteries and promotes plaque build-up and blood clots. Eventually, this kind of damage can block blood flow to the heart or brain. Thus, when pulses are served to children from an early age, they develop stronger folate levels that fight the risk of heart attack as the children grow.

Children charity The Akshaya Patra Foundation is observing Hunger Action Month, as part of which, they are aiming at fighting against hidden hunger. In India, many children are deprived of nutritious meal. As a result, their growth remains stunted. A child is known to be suffering from hidden hunger when he is deprived of a wholesome meal.

At Akshaya Patra, the menu of mid-day meal is designed with utmost care, in order to make the food tasty and healthy. The menu is changed every day so that the children relish it with equal enthusiasm. Pulses form an integral part of the mid-day meal scheme in Telangana. They are also a rich source of iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium.

While serving these mid-day meals to children in Telengana, the Foundation ensures that the food is cooked in hygienic conditions. The Foundation’s state-of-the-art kitchens which are equipped with latest technology enable the employees to cook food using a systematic procedure. It currently has 33 kitchens across the country. Over 1.6 million children benefit from this initiative.

Children need a lot of energy in their adolescence as they participate in a lot of sports. A meal that’s rich in pulses helps regulate the energy levels and manage digestive system. The meals served to children have enough nutritious value to ensure that the body gets a slow-burning and steady energy supply. The iron content in these diets helps transporting oxygen into the body which in turn boosts energy production and metabolism.

The mid-day meal scheme in Telengana aims at providing considerable amount of wholesome lunch to school children. The children’s charity is ensuring that children coming to Government and Government-aided schools don’t go home hungry.

If you wish to join hands in the mission, be a part of this cause and donate to charity today.

Spend Free Time Fruitfully With Different Fundraising Ideas

You may or may not have a hobby but you sure do get some free time once in a while. Since free time doesn’t come by so easily, it becomes crucial how you make that time worthwhile. One of the ways to make it count is to indulge in exploring different fundraising ideas towards causes such as education, food, nutrition, hygiene, environment or the likes. We give you some fun fundraising ideas that you may want to indulge into during your free time. 

Food truck 

If you feel strongly for eradicating hunger, you may arrange an old vehicle and sell home-made food in your vicinity. The truck must carry the message of saving food for the hungry and the proceeds gathered should go as a charity donation towards feeding the hungry. You may choose this non-profit fundraising idea for organisations such as The Akshaya Patra Foundation an NGO in India that feeds wholesome lunch to school children. 

Host a marathon

People are usually interested in events that combine charity donation with fitness. Today, it’s easy to organise a marathon through social media channels in a small city or town. Marathon has become one of the best non-profit fundraising ideas that communities have utilised towards charity donation. You can raise funds by keeping a minimal entry fees that would be used towards awarding the winners while the remaining would go to a charity. 

Host a cycling expedition 

This is another low investment and non-profit fundraising idea that can be executed easily. Create a Facebook group of cycling enthusiasts in your city. When you reach a 100-member mark, ask the members to pick a day for cycling expedition. Spell out the purpose of the expedition as an attempt for charity donation for causes such as education, hunger, environment, etc. Raise funds through entry fee so proceeds could go as donation to a charity. You may also urge the members to contribute directly to the charity by informing them about tax exemption in India in case of charity donations. 

Viral challenge

Of course, nothing can be as successful as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge but it proved that social media challenges can be made viral. Organise a fun activity such as taking three floors by stairs or balancing a vessel on the head. Make a video and post it with the right hashtags such as #ChallengeForCharityDonation or #TakeTheCharityChallenge. One of the conditions of participating is that the person taking the challenge should donate a minimum amount to charity donation through online donation or create an online fundraising campaign towards education. The participants need to attach a screenshot of the receipt or proof of such charity donation or fundraising in the comments section. This non-profit fundraising idea inspires a local community towards the importance of fundraising for non-profit organisations and causes.

Organise a carnival 

If you live in a city that’s known for things like food, snacks, sareers, handicrafts or any fun cultural reasons, you can organise a local carnival. Carnivals especially organised for non-profit fundraising are sure to attract a lot of people, especially children. You may ask housewives or children to organise stalls and sell their products. Be transparent about where the proceeds would go to so everyone takes it in good spirit. 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation encourages all those people who cannot contribute regularly by money to indulge in online fundraising campaigns. The charity donations with the foundation enjoy tax exemption as per laws in India, thus, people can freely raise funds through encouraging others to donate. Fundraise today.

What Role NGOs Play in India and How Akshaya Patra is Contributing?

There are people like Sachin Tendulkar and Priyanka Chopra that have made the world notice our talent, on the other hand there are some who are trying to bring a positive change in Indian society by working and impacting at the grass root level. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such non-government organisation that’s playing the role of nutrition missionary in India since 2000 to eradicate undernourishment among kids and ensure that no child opts out of school because of hunger.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is truly demonstrating the role of an NGO committed to helping the cause of food and education in India. The noble acts of making donations in someone’s memory or doing charity fundraising for the needy are helping millions of children come to school every day. Know how-

1. Better living conditions for all

So many children in India have to do menial jobs at the age when they are supposed to attend school to earn meals for the day. The people in need are helpless and the capable ones cannot always manage to directly reach out and help. Here’s when an NGO’s role in India comes into play. The NGOs act as a connecting medium between needy and facilitators. Akshaya Patra, with the help of donations received by donors in memory of near and dear ones, has been able to serve over 1.6 million children in 13,808 schools across 12 states in India. In a way, this NGO is contributing and letting us contribute in providing better living conditions for all the underprivileged people of India.

2. Educated India equals better India

Most of the challenges that India is facing as a country can be dealt well by educating the uneducated masses in every remote corner of the country. Opening schools in all the villages is not the only solution because there are problems like classroom hunger too, that can prevent children from coming to school. In order to combat this problem, the role of NGOs like Akshaya Patra becomes crucial. By providing wholesome mid-day meals as an incentive, this organisation has been able to encourage students to attend classes and motivate them to achieve success in life. We may have no clue but doing some charity fundraising or donating in memory of beloved’s can be a gift of hope to someone in need.

3. Better reasons to be known for

Issues like poverty, illiteracy, slow progress, etc., sometimes overshadow all the goodness that India can be known for. Several NGOs in India are playing their role to fight such problems. They are striving hard to let India be known only for its growth and prosperity. Undernourishment among children is one of the major issues in India, against which, Akshaya Patra has missioned itself. This NGO aims to eradicate hunger which has proved to be an obstacle to learning. When the present is improved, the future can be better. And if a small help from our side can make any good impact, why not do it?

So let’s come together as a nation and involve ourselves in better causes. There’s no greater joy than giving someone a ray of hope. You may simply do some charity fundraising for the cause. Help a child today!

Interns NGO Internship Experience

Here are few interns shared their experience of working at Akshaya Patra which is certified as Great Place to Work by the Great Place to Work Institute. They have shared the experience of working an NGO, challenges faced, skills gained and more. Read the blog to know the NGO internship experience.