Project History and Mission

“A school for the poor that the rich may envy”- is how GoodNewsIndia described the Olcott Memorial High School (OMHS) , a unique free school founded in 1894 by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, with the vision of bringing about social change through the education of the underprivileged. OMHS is run by the Olcott Education Society, the educational arm of the Theosophical society, a non-sectarian, non-political, non-profit organization that stands for the equality of human beings without any sort of discrimination and seeks to lend dignity to the human citizen regardless of social status.

There are several efforts being made today to make up for the injustice inflicted on the underprivileged in the past. These efforts however are fruitless unless adequate efforts are directed towards correcting the built-in disabilities of the education environment and nutrition. OMHS strives to empower its students with such quality education. The students come from families whose average income levels are way below the average levels and largely unsteady. Their parents are mostly illiterate and live amidst violence and abuse. The education itself is provided at no cost to the students along with food and health care.

CNNs recent feature of the Work an Hour program provides a really good insight into the school’s mission and the way it is run and how one hour of your salary can help the school.

WAH Budget Proposal

More on Olcott

The WAH Proposal was submitted to request funds for infrastructure improvements, specifically, improvements to the toilets, water supply, wash areas, drinking water areas, provision of electricity connections to classrooms 1-6 and provision of fans for the primary classrooms. It will take approximately a year to complete the improvements and the improvements are expected to serve the school for the next 10 years and beyond.

Relevant Resources: