Midday Meal Program
In 2003 when the school started with seven students each child received just two glucose biscuits each day. Even those two biscuits provided an incentive to come and study under the tree where it all started. As the residents became accustomed to seeing the children sitting under the tree and learning their tables and alphabets day in and day out, they became interested and at times brought them bananas or other eatables. At times, proper meals were served to them on special festival days. Later, as the number started to grow some of the residents began to feed the children for one day every fortnight or so. But as the number of students continued to grow, these meals were not enough.
At that point, we requested a caterer to cook fresh food for the children every day. It soon became unaffordable. Providing a sumptuous midday meal began to seem like a distant dream, and we had to revert back to giving them a banana or some glucose biscuits every day.
Shortly after, Prakash Deep came in contact with ISKON, a religious organization, offering midday meals to government school children. We visited their temple in Kalkaji and met the head priest, who visited the school and offered to do his best.
We became eligible for a proper midday meal program only in 2010 when Prakash Deep became partners with the National Child Labour Project. At that time, ISKON began providing and delivering freshly cooked meals every day for all of our students. Although it took seven years, it was a dream come true. However, this facility was withdrawn from Prakash Deep in March 2017 when the National Child Labour Project withdrew its support from us.