Samaritan Mission School of Howrah named among world’s best schools by UK organisation

Samaritan Mission School on Munshi Noor Mohammed Lane in Kadamtala, Howrah, has been recognised as one of the world’s best schools as part of T4 World Education Week 2022. The inaugural edition of the World’s Best School prizes, founded in the United Kingdom by T4 Education, a research-based organisation, has shortlisted Samaritan Mission School in its top 10 list of World’s Best Schools for overcoming adversity.

Launched to recognise the stories of inspirational schools that are transforming the lives of students around the world, the World’s Best School awards selected Samaritan Mission School for fulfilling the criterion of “making a real difference in their community, sharing the best practices and having their voices heard at the top table to help transform education”.

Founded in 2007 by Mamoon Akhtar, a school dropout who later funded his own education through part-time work, Samaritan Mission School offers English-medium education to more than 1,500 students from impoverished backgrounds. Initially running from pre-Nursery to Class VI, the school has expanded since 2009 and obtained its WBBSE affiliation in 2016. The school is an integral part of the Samaritan Help Mission (SHM), also founded by Akhtar, a non-profit organisation that has been working in the slums of Howrah since beginning its endeavours with the large urban slum of Tikiapara in 2001.

“It’s a proud moment for the people of Tikiapara that a school from Tikiapara has been nominated among the top 10 best schools in the world. Moreover, the tweet from the honourable chief minister acknowledging our achievement is a great honour for our school,” said Akhtar.

Apart from a sprawling campus, Samaritan Mission School is equipped with smart classroom facilities, state-of-the-art laboratories, an artificial turf football pitch, basketball and badminton courts. Students are also eligible for regular check-ups and free treatment at the adjacent Rebecca Belilious Charitable Dispensary.

The main objectives of the school include increasing the enrolment of under-resourced students in mainstream learning and providing them with quality English-medium education alongside facilitating their development in co-curricular and extracurricular activities. To help achieve these objectives more smoothly, the school has partnered with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which is involved in making access to re-education easier for school dropouts.

Besides Samaritan Mission School, SVKM’s Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School in Mumbai and SDMC Primary School Nagar III in New Delhi have been nominated for the World’s Best School prizes under the category of innovation. Meanwhile, the community collaboration category also has two Indian representatives — Mumbai’s Khoj School and Pune’s PCMC English Medium School.