About Dr Graham's Homes
Dr Graham's Homes School is located in Kalimpong, West Bengal, in the Himalayan foothills of North-East India. The Homes were founded in 1900 by The Rev. John Anderson Graham, a Scottish missionary (who, in 1931, was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland) out of compassion and concern for the neglected Anglo Indian children of the Tea Gardens in the Dooars and Darjeeling Districts of NE India. At that time the school was known as St Andrew's Colonial Homes but was later renamed to Dr. Graham's Homes (To learn more click Dr Graham's Homes above)
Today, the Homes provide education for some 1500 girls and boys, mainly from NE India but also from the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan. What was once a barren hillside, now encompasses an area of 500 acres and has blossomed into a self sufficient ‘children’s city’ with extensive educational facilities, eighteen cottages accommodating some 800 boarders, a magnificent Church, a Hospital, a children's Nursery, and a Bakery and Farm to cater for the 800 boarders. More than half of the boarding children are supported through the fundraising efforts of a number of overseas committees and through a worldwide sponsorship network.
To supplement its operating costs including the salary of some 60 teaching staff, the school attracts a number of fee-paying students, both as boarders and day scholars. The student body ranges from infants to eighteen year-olds and follows the Indian national examination system of ICSE's at sixteen and ISC's at eighteen years-old. The cottage environment for the boarders provides accommodation in a family atmosphere where all learn the importance of living and working together to maintain what has, for some, become their only home. Thus, children of different abilities and backgrounds grow to respect one another. Dr Graham's Homes has long since been established as a haven for thousands of children most in need and has remained true to its heritage to provide the highest standards of education within a context of established pastoral care, in preparation for the challenges of adult life.
Voluntary Committees in Kolkata, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Japan, have provided financial aid and continue to support the Homes and keep alive Dr. Graham's vision in the new millennium. It is a tribute to the work of Dr. Graham that the Homes today remain an educational pillar of strength in the Kalimpong district and beyond, bearing a name honoured still in our generation and hopefully in generations to come.
