NGOs to the rescue: Indian non-profits help unprivileged children with education and food amidst pandemic

NGOs to the rescue: Indian non-profits help unprivileged children with education and food amidst pandemic

In a bid to curb hunger, lack of education, child labour, and child marriage during the pandemic, Indian NGOs are ensuring poor children are well-fed and educated. Here’s how they are doing it.

For the second-largest populated country, the COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges. In India, with schools shut down and a nationwide lockdown imposed, children had to do away with physical classroom learning and adapt to online education.

However, for the underprivileged children, belonging to rural pockets of the country, the pandemic almost halted their lives. Not only did their learning stop due to the pandemic, poor internet connectivity, and unavailability of smartphones, but these children also found it hard to get proper meals.

In fact, these collateral damages have also led to the rise of child marriages and child labour in the country. In a bid to help overcome these challenges, several NGOs have started various initiatives, catering to the needs of the children amidst the pandemic. Here’s how they are doing it.

Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation needs no introduction when it comes to meal programmes. During the lockdown, it distributed close to 9.2 crore meals to the underprivileged children and their families.

In fact, it introduced happiness kits which include nutritious food items, hygiene kits, immunity boosters, and learning materials for children to go back to school. These kits are distributed in Bengaluru, Jigani, Hyderabad, Thane, Silvassa, Jaipur, Vadodara, Lucknow, Vrindavan, and Guwahati.

Moreover, the non-profit plans to restart its ‘Back-to-School’ initiative to help underprivileged children get proper education amidst the pandemic.

It has also partnered with multiple organisations, including Sun Life Asia Service Centre India(ASCI), Deutsche Bank, and Ola Foundation, among others, to execute its COVID-19 relief work in various places.

About Sun Life Asia Service Centre

Sun Life Asia Service Centre (ASC) in India provides Business Processing, IT, and Investment Research shared services to Sun Life's global businesses. The 24*7 centres also offer contact centre and enterprise infrastructure to Sun Life’s businesses. ASC India and ASC Philippines work in perfect harmony to support Clients through all stages of Client and software life cycle for Sun Life in Canada, the US, and Asia. Over the years, the ASC has achieved scale and operational maturity by integrating closely with Sun Life’s corporate functions. The centres support Individual Insurance & Wealth, Group Benefits, Group Retirement Services, Document Services and Client Solutions services for Sun Life.

For additional information on Sun Life ASC, please visit: https://www.sunlife.com/asiaservicecentre

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