About Boys' Home
Ramakrishna Mission Boys’ Home , P.O.- Rahara, Kolkata -700118 is branch center of Ramakrishna Mission, Belure Math, Dist -Howrah, PIN -711202, India. Ramakrishna Mission Boys’ Home, Rahara established in 1944 (founded on 1st September of the year) under the able and active leadership of revered Swami Punnyananda, one of the disciples of very revered Srimat Swami Shivanandaji Maharaj, a direct disciple of Shri Shri Ramakrishna.
Background :
The Great Bengal Famine enveloped the entire horizon of Bengal in the year 1942-43 and along with that epidemic also joined to snatch the lives of hundreds & thousand humans. And among the piercing cry a face illuminated and his melted heart beckoned a Monk and forced him to run to those helpless people. He started walking from that crematorium of death with 37 completely orphaned, distressed, helpless boys. He dedicated his life adopted as its motto the principle “Atmano mokshartham jagaddhitaya cha” (meaning ‘Liberation of the self through the service of the world).
At this time, an unexpected good fortune happened in his life. Babu Satish Chandra Mukherjee, the publisher of the Bengali daily newspaper ‘Basmati’, lost his son and daughter prematurely. The grieving father donated a one-storey house, an old printing house-cum-warehouse and a piece of land in a remote village called Rahara, 20 km from Kolkata. That Great Monk arrived at that warehouse with those 37 orphan boys and the journey of the ‘Ramakrishna Mission Boys Home’ was started here on 1 September 1944.
Sw. PunyanandaJi Maharaj
Boys’ Home
Now a days the Boys’ Home has grown into one of the biggest orphanage in the country and has been maintaining and educating boys more than 80 years. With the passage of time, the number of such boys at Boys’ Home gradually swelled and at present 600 orphan, destitute and tribal boys are being brought up and educated entirely free of charges. 90% of them are fatherless, the mothers are eking out a miserable livelihood; doing menial jobs. In 5% cases the fathers are seriously sick, or disabled or of unsound mind. Some boys have been sent even from borstal jails.
From Archive
The objects of the Boys Home is to maintain and educate these boys in its care in a manner so that they may grow into healthy self-disciplined young men, full of zeal with a sound moral foundation and general education up to Madhyamik Level and also be inspired by a genuine love and regard for the glorious heritage of the country. Great emphasis is laid on character-building, formation of correct habits and manners, and development of a broad and generous outlook of life free from all narrow prejudices. As far as possible attempts are made to bring up the boys according to the ideal of man-making education as preached by Swami Vivekananda.
The Boys’ Home gradually built a number of institutions for General, Technical, Vocational and Teachers’ Education and Training. All these academic and educational institutions starting from the Primary Section upto the University level run with the aims and objectives of imparting and inculcating man-making and character-building education according to the ideas and ideals as preached and propagated by Swami Vivekananda. All these institutions are under the control and management of Ramakrishna Mission Boys’ Home with the approval of the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math.