“The Akshaya Patra meal helps build stamina for the body. I am able to read and write well when I have lunch,” says 14-year old Ravi, who studies at the Padua School. The mid-day meal served every day at school has positively impacted the lives of many at the Padua high School in Mangaluru. One such student at this school is Ravi Chandra, in Standard X.

Over the year, Ravi has taken his studies very seriously and is preparing for his SSLC exams which will be held in March, 2016. “Even though I want to become a police officer, I have a strong interest in economics as I like to learn about banking and insurance. If I get a good rank I will definitely pursue a course in economics, as it is my dream to join a finance company.”

Ravi hails from a low income background who hopes for a bright future through education. Financial difficulties stand as the major impediment in his way to choosing a career of his own choice; he is uncertain whether he can enrol in a course of his choice owing to his down-at-heel situation. For Ravi, it is financial difficulties that act as obstacles in his plans for the future. “That’s why it is tough to decide what I really want to become when I grow up. If things go well in the future, I will definitely do something I like.”

His father, Chandra is a daily wage earner and his mother, Kasturi is a housewife who daily tends to household activities. He also has a younger brother who studies in Standard V at a school in Suratkal. Distance is also another challenge for Ravi since his house is located in a neighbouring town called Suratkal, which is around an hour’s journey from his school in Nanthur.

Ravi’s determination has made him work regularly on weekends and on holidays too. He supplements his father’s earnings by giving his father the money he receives from washing cars at a service station. Whenever he has work, he travels 20 kilometres from his house in Suratkal to the city.”I want to contribute towards the family in some way or the other,” he adds. Even though it is quite a distance, Ravi makes it a point to travel on all holidays. For his services, Ravi is paid Rs. 300 which goes into supporting the family and a promise for a better education which will help him achieve his dreams.