Nirankar prepares for his final year in school

Thank you for gifting an entire year of meals to Nirankar.

Nirankar is 15 and in the 9th standard. He is the 5th of his parents’ seven children, and his father’s income of 3,000 rupees ($60) per month as a roadside ironworker is often not sufficient to support the entire family. Nirankar considers himself lucky to be a beneficiary of the Ashraya Initiative for Children’s Education Outreach Program. The AIC Education Outreach Program provides him with, among many other things, well-balanced meals every day to ensure that he is able to focus on his studies, instead of his rumbling stomach.  These meals include chapati (flat bread), bhaji (cooked vegetables), boiled eggs, fresh seasonal fruit, yogurt, milk and several other things.

Nirankar starts the most important year of his secondary school education – grade 10 – in a mere five months, and at the end of the year, will take his Board examinations, to determine if he will be able to go on to college, and if so, which colleges will give him admission.  Therefore, it is imperative that Nirankar is able to concentrate on his schoolwork with the security of knowing that he won’t have to go hungry or miss meals. Neither of his parents ever went to school, and he is already the most educated person in his family, as his older siblings all dropped out of school when they were younger. Nirankar is definitely bright enough to excel in college one day, and will not have to become a poorly-paid ironworker like his father.