A full plate of food filled with the goodness of nutrients is nourishing, gives one strength; both bodily and mental, keeps one active and free from diseases. One of the most important aspect for any kind of development is taking care of children, enabling them to grow up healthy. But the prevailing situation in India speaks otherwise, we have constantly failed to provide the most basic care to our children, providing healthy meals to them which results in stunted growth, malnourishment etc.

If we look closely we can find two kinds of hunger among children; one that arises out of poverty. In a situation such as this children don’ get to eat at all; often they can found lurking behind garbage bins hunting for food or begging in the streets to feed themselves. In this case children do not or cannot afford an education. They are either engaged in some sort of labor or simply loiter in the hunt for food. The other kind of hunger arises not out of the lack of food but out of the lack of proper nourishment, which can also be called hidden hunger. Hundreds of school going children suffer from hidden hunger. Parents provide whatever meal they can with the meager amounts they earn but it doesn’t fulfill the need of proper nourishment.

That backdrop set our preliminaries for Plate Half Full. This initiative is to enhance education with adequate nutrition. While it is necessary to have underprivileged children attend school, it is also just as important to have them eat regular meals in a day.

This initiative also aims to sensitize the teachers and families on the need of proper nutrition. The influence of nutrition on education is often ignored, thereby deeming it necessary to highlight the relevance.

Most of us have our plates full and most of us only have our plates half full! Let us come together, fill the plates of those children who have been surviving on halves!