Akshaya Patra to Serve 5000 Goa Students from April

March 31, 2025, 3:35 p.m.

Starting this April, the Akshaya Patra Foundation will supply midday meals to 5,000 students from government & government-aided schools within a 40 km radius of Saligao, for the first time in Goa. The meals will be delivered to schools in the talukas of Bardez, Tiswadi, Bicholim & Pernem. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that Akshaya Patra has set up a modern kitchen at the Disaster Management Centre in Saligao, built at a cost of Rs 3 crore. The kitchen will be officially inaugurated on Monday.

"This initiative aims to improve the quality of midday meals provided to students, which was not satisfactory earlier," Sawant said, adding that existing self-help groups (SHGs) supplying meals will not be affected. Meals will be supplied as per the government’s approved menu. According to Education Director Shailesh Sinai Zingade, the state government had invited bids from five agencies, and Akshaya Patra emerged as the successful bidder. "They will serve 2,500 students in the first phase, and the remaining in the second phase," he said.

Zingade assured that there would be no discrimination between Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), SHGs, or central government-empanelled agencies involved in supplying the meals. There is also a proposal to extend the scheme to students of Classes IX and X. The state has fixed the midday meal supply rate at Rs 8 for primary students and Rs 10 for upper primary. Earlier, in 2013, the idea to engage Akshaya Patra was proposed by then CM Manohar Parrikar but was dropped due to SHG pressure.