Aiming to provide a better mid-day meal facility among government school going children, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), the banking entity of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has signed a MoU with the Akshaya Patra Foundation.
According to the MoU, MUFG has pledged INR 105.1 million to build a new centralised kitchen to cater to government schools in Ranga Reddy District, near Hyderabad, Telangana.
The kitchen is expected to be completed in the next academic year (2017-18), and will be able to provide 35,000 meals daily to children in government-aided schools and anganwadis across the district. In addition, BTMU will also help to deliver and distribute mid-day meals to the schools.
Ryoichi Shinke, the regional executive of BTMU India, said, “It is our privilege to partner with the Akshaya Patra Foundation to work towards eradicating hunger among school children, many of whom rely on these mid-day meals to sustain them for the whole day.”
“With proper nutrition, we hope the children will be able to enjoy a more conducive learning environment and not having to cope with hunger during school time,” added Shinke.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a registered NGO in India that aims to end classroom hunger among government school children and facilitate education. It provides meals to 1.5 million students daily.
Sri Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa, the president of Akshaya Patra, Telangana, said, “This collaboration will add enormous impetus in our endeavour to feed 5 million children by 2020. Such partnerships enable us to continue our work through our initiative to end classroom hunger.”
