Sri Ramakrishna Mission Students Home
Organization background

Ramakrishna Math & Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement, to promote harmony between the East and the West; the ancient and the modern; spiritual fulfillment; all-round development of human faculties; social equality and peace for humanity and harmony of religions without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality. They follow the spiritual teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda, his preeminent disciple. See here. Although Ramakrishna Math and Mission are legally and financially separated, they are connected in several other ways. Together, they have 190 branch centres all over India and in different parts of the world.

Project background

Since 1905, Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) has been running a home for boys in Chennai. The home is administered by monks of the Sri Ramakrishna Order, assisted by volunteer staff who help with the maintenance. There are 600+ residents in the Home in any given year.

The RKM Home provides housing and education to deserving orphans and destitute boys (single parent children from poor backgrounds or children from below poverty line (BPL) families). They are educated under the Gurukula system where the Educational Institution and the Home are blended together and where the teachers and pupils live together and work in close and harmonious relationship. The lifestyle is meant to inculcate character-building and inspire children with high ideals of self-sacrifice and service.

Boys, aged 10-16 study in a high school run by the Home, affiliated with Tamil Nadu Board of Education. The medium of instruction is Tamil. After finishing high school (Grades 6-10), they enroll for one of 3 diploma courses (Mechanical, Automibile, and Computer) in a Polytechnic College, also run by the Home. In addition, 60 boys and girls from the local community also attend primary school (grades 6-8) as day scholars.

The Home provides free education, food, accommodation, for all students till they obtain their diplomas, after which they are placed at engineering firms.

The Residential High School is a government aided school and salaries of some of the teachers and other staff are paid by the state government of Tamil Nadu, however the rest of the salaries are paid for by donations.

GKF contributions to RKM Students Home