Counting the returned lunch boxes; counting sins

Tell us how you think we can eliminate classroom hunger. Imagine what India would be like if no child goes hungry and an entire generation is educated.

'Why didn't you eat your lunch today?' asked my mom, so many years ago, so many times.

'The chips was not enough.'

'The rice became too thick.'

'You had kept too much.'

'Friend's birthday treat.'

I had reasons listed in my mind, ready to escape my lips each time. I was always pampered and giving amazing food, no repetition in a week in the lunch box. But still I refused to eat the wonderful lunch many a times, calling reasons.

            Today, when I read, hear and see children who are not fed sufficiently or completely not fed, I feel terrible for my mistakes as a child, wasting food. Classroom hunger is one obstacle that's casting a big shadow on our future, the country's future.

           

            How can we eliminate classroom hunger? When I read classroom and hunger together in a sentence I get reminded of an old saying I was taught in school. 'Teach a hungry man how to fish and he will remain fed the rest of his life.' Does this mean I am pointing towards child labour as a solution to this? Not at all. Then I am sure kids will be fed of food but they will become hungry for education. Child labour is like giving the hungry man the food but education is like showing them the way to the pond where they can find a lot of fishes. But how do they fish? That's a good question I am left with, again, after so much self-talking.

            Most of the private school, the costly ones get a donation in fancy digits, don't they? It should prick them to do so as most of them overstate their services and make education a business. But it's all together a different issue which is not in the focus of this article. It should prick them, I say again; At least a little bit. So these private institutions who get donation can adopt a poor school each. They can dedicate a tiny percentage to feed the kids in such underprivileged schools; the smallest fraction would feed the entire school for a year, I am sure.

Just like each one teach one, each school feed a school. In this way the owners of the high-society schools can answer the call of their karma with a little confidence and the kids in the schools that fall in the other category can be well fed.

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