Description
A majority of the population in Nepal is still unable to get even one complete square meal for the day, only because they are stuck in the vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy. Due to the rising costs, increasing tax and unemployment crisis, the number keeps rising each year. For these vulnerable children, Mid-day meal is only source of having good nutritious food. It not only improves their nutritional status but has a huge impact on their learning outcomes as well. The Mid-day meal program was implemented by Food for Life Nepal from 2015 AD with an intention to boost universalization of primary education by increasing enrollment, retention and attendance simultaneously impacting on the nutritional levels of children. With array of nutritious food on the menu, many children get attracted to school, enroll themselves and attend school regularly. For many parents of these children, sending them to school means not only incurring extra financial burden but also depriving them of some money which their children would have earned otherwise by doing labor, the food comes as a boon not only because it satiates their hunger but also because they get an opportunity to access education.
Moreover, school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are an unprecedented risk to children’s education, protection and well-being. Disruptions to instructional time in the classroom can have a severe impact on a child’s ability to learn. The longer these vulnerable children are out of the school, the less likely they are to return, particularly those who were already attending school irregularly. This all hampers a child’s mental health causing stress and anxiety due to the lack of peer interaction, support and disrupted routines.
There is a good way ahead for the Mid-day Meal scheme. But the government also needs to tread the path carefully if we want our children nourished and not just fed. There are many discussions around how an execution of mid-day meals program can be implemented effectively in different parts of the country and one of the possible ways being – the partnership between private and government entities and non-governmental organization like Food for Life Nepal. This will complement our effort. In addition to providing an incentive for education, an improved Mid-day meal would ensure a consistent effort towards dealing with hunger and malnutrition, two of the biggest problems plaguing the young population today.
Food for Life Nepal’s (Mid-Day Meals: Food and Education for All) is an initiative to scale-up cross-sector partnerships with the governments and leading corporates. With a transformative approach to enhance the impact of the Mid-day meals, Food for Life Nepal will continue to make efforts to not only safeguard the nutritional status of its beneficiaries, but also go beyond meals to ensure their holistic development. Over time, we have evolved and adapted to changing times, overcoming challenges and using innovations to enhance the impact of our Mid-day meal program. We have grown from serving a modest eighteen (18) children in to touching the lives of 3,683 children. Throughout our journey of implementing the Mid-Day Meals program, we have endeavored to continuously improve our processes and enhance the impact of our cause. Moving forward, we strive to explore new avenues—from the delivery of warm, cooked and wholesome meals to initiatives that go beyond them for the overall enrichment of the Mid-day meal program.
