Role of NGOs in shaping education and nutrition in India

The article highlights how compassion drives NGOs in India to support education and nutrition. It focuses on initiatives like Akshaya Patra and AIKYAVIDYA, showing how collective action, partnerships, and community involvement help create lasting social change

Compassion Meets Collective Action: Humans have always lived in communities, drawn together by something deeper than survival, an instinct to care for one another. Compassion is not a modern invention but is woven into the very fabric of who we are, echoing through Sanskrit phrases that have endured for millennia: लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु (may all beings be happy) and वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् (the world is one family).

It is from this enduring instinct, this quiet but unshakeable belief in our shared humanity, that not-for-profit organisations were born. Today, NGOs stand at the intersection of compassion and urgency, on the frontlines of the world’s most pressing challenges: poverty, hunger, inequality and climate change. They are the bridge between those who can give and those who need support. With their roots planted firmly in local communities, they bring understanding and innovation that large-scale systems often struggle to achieve on their own. Through public-private partnerships, they help turn well-meaning government policies into real, lasting change, making development not just efficient, but human.

---

Every year, World NGO Day is observed to honour this spirit of service and acknowledge what becomes possible when compassion is put into action.

Of all the areas where action is most urgently needed, perhaps none matters more than the earliest years of a child’s life. Education expands possibility, shapes values and offers the dignity of choice.

But a hungry child cannot learn.

In India, government programmes like PM POSHAN have created a framework for mid-day meals in schools. NGOs support the programme by collaborating with the government to strengthen its impact. They conduct nutritional audits and source seasonal, fortified ingredients to ensure that no child is left behind in receiving the nourishment and education that truly empower them.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was founded in 2000 with a single, resolute conviction: no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger. Today, it serves over 2.35 million children every school day, ensuring each child receives a nutritious meal, the energy to focus and the hope to dream. It also frees teachers to do what they are there for: teach.

The growth of Akshaya Patra as an NGO is possible due to the support of like-minded people and partners who share the same vision. Behind every meal served, there is a collective of people who choose to show up.

There is another NGO, AIKYAVIDYA, which is a unique initiative of Aikya Vidya Foundation (an associated trust of the Hare Krishna Movement) addressing post-school challenges of children in rural areas. It provides children with free post-school education, value-based learning, life skills, and a nutritious meal.

It also supports women’s empowerment by training them as post-school teachers and providing them with employment in the Aikya Vidya programme. There has been a significant transformation in the post-school educational ecosystem in many villages, creating a positive spiral of growth for children, their parents, and teachers.

As of now, AIKYAVIDYA has opened centres in more than 108 villages and caters to over 2,500 children. While the government has effectively educated these children through the regular curriculum in government schools, AIKYAVIDYA has created a complementary post-school education framework to enhance the government’s efforts. What drives NGOs forward is not resources alone, but compassion turning into collective action and the shared conviction to create a better world, together.