Thursday 11 December 2014

Pouring Some More Food In Akshaya Patra

I was making my eight-years old understand the meaning of the newly taught topic in Hindi i.e. "Muhaavre" and he was not able to relate the given idiomatic phrases with their meanings. I was cursing this English speaking culture in my heart that the kids these days are not even familiar with these commonly used idioms which we  knew in their age without being taught formally.

During the course of this session with my junior, I came across the idiom "Bhojan Bina Bhajan Bhi Nahi Hota" to which my boy immediately replied "Mumma, I have understood its meaning. Like when I go to school without eating my breakfast and cannot concentrate on studies, similarly those who don't get tummyful of food can also find it difficult to perform their responsibilities properly.

I was astonished that this young mind could so easily relate to this phrase with a problem which he has experienced himself...I patted on his back for applying his mind in studies and giving appropriate reply.... But there was a sudden sense of realization & a sort of reminder to me that I've not yet thought of contributing in Akshaya Patra activity of BlogAdda that is aimed at sponsoring meals of one entire year for an underprivileged school kid via each blog post we write.

I knew I have to be socially responsible enough to utilize my time, effort and skills to help turn their lives around and end classroom hunger in India.

 Hunger is a “huge distraction” in the classroom and affects miserably in learning. A hungry child actually cannot think of anything else but of food. No focus on the teacher's talk, behavioral problems, inattentive mind n what not... Hunger often becomes a red flag for academic performance. :(

 I personally being a teacher for many years now have observed that the Classroom Hunger is not as obviously visible as we expect. It takes perceptive teachers to put the pieces together and seek the root cause of why certain child is not paying attention to the lesson.

Confronting hunger problem with free community meals deserving children can be one strategy by the school administrations, but if the problems opens bigger mouth then the innovative ideas to conduct effective food-collection programs on larger scale by the local authorities must be implemented.

Human chains can be formed in the schools' territories to spread the noble message of volunteering in community kitchens serving meals before and after school hours. Non-profit organization can come up for forming the policies to advocate the need of helping the hungry children not only to survive, but also to thrive. Because If we are concerned about how well the children perform in school, we have to be compassionate about the fact whether they are hungry...”

When the worries of getting something to eat will be taken care of, the whole present n future generation will be scoring higher in academics as well as social activities.

The following lines can be recited in the meanwhile..

The India of our dreams is a matrix of perfection,
Self-reliant, compound & with an unshakeable foundation.
From every nook and corner, Classroom Hunger has to vanish,
Oh then only, this flame of Knowledge can't dare to banish.
Our dream can turn into our future so bright,
Just serve some food with Basic Education's Right. 
So I feel proud to do a good deed today and wish that this Akshaya Patra remains filled and leaves no child hungry ever in India.

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

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