Overview

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur A branch of the Ramakrishna Mission, this Ashrama has its services open to all irrespective of caste, creed and nationality, its special field being education. Started in North Calcutta (Pathuriaghata) immediately after the Bengal Famine of 1943 it first served as a Home for the poor and orphan boys. But since its relocation in 1957 to its present site in the southern suburbs of Calcutta, near Garia, 16 Kilometers from the Governor’s House, it has grown into a huge complex with varied activities. It has more than 2,000 resident students and occupies about 150 acres of land dotted with flower gardens, green fields, mango groves and lakes. Coming from all over India, the students here speak different languages and profess different religions faiths. In selecting students preference is given to boys coming from displaced families and backward classes and to boys who are physically or otherwise handicapped. In the training centres of the Ashrama, scholars with no opening in higher academic fields are admitted. The night school caters to the needs of students who come from poor families of the locality. The reason why education has been chosen as the special field of services is that right type of education is considered to be the best and most effective means of doing lasting good to the nation. Swami Vivekananda used to say that education is the panacea of all social evils. But by education he did not mean merely book learning. He said, “We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas”, and added, “what we want is that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the
intellect is expanded and by which one can stand on one’s feet.” The Ashrama, therefore, endeavours to educate the students in its charge according to the best traditions of the country, while instructing them in modern arts, science and crafts. In other words, as it prepares the students for public examinations, it also tries to attend to their all round growth and development so that they may become strong and healthy individuals rooted in sound moral principles, learn to respect the higher values of life and become conscious of their obligation to the poor masses around them.