Colonel Henry Steele Olcott of the TS started the school in 1894 with the vision of bringing about social change through the education of the underprivileged. The school is located in Besant Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The community that lives in the area comprises of the rich and the very poor. The gap in the social status is extreme.

Most of the students, boys and girls, in the school come from poor and below the poverty line families living in the above area. These children also belong to the socially under privileged sections who are trying to break through the shackles of class discrimination The mission of the school, is to provide a better tomorrow for them by imparting proper education and skills. The students would leave the school with the right values of hard work and ethical practices and skills in at least one income generation activity. The school aims towards the students passing the 10th standard creditably. The school average attendance figure is more than 85% last year in all classes.

The school does not charge any tuition fees or any other fees. No charges are collected for any activity of the school. In addition it provides breakfast (gruel- nutritious porridge), midday meal, uniforms, textbooks and notebooks to all the students totaling 600. The campus is green and spread out with a good play ground area ad joint. Today, the school has 22 class rooms, meeting hall, craft center, Library, Resource Room and Computer room, Audio Visual Room, a language lab, a computer room. All of this has slowly been put together due to the goodwill of philanthropists.

Among the staff of 45 committed teachers, and many are computer literate. All teachers are comfortable with the use of computers. Some of our teachers are creating material for Technology Aided Learning (TAL), involving a few students. The Headmistress of the OMHS has been in the field of education for over 30 years and is committed towards bringing a social change in the lives of the downtrodden families and children through
Education.

For details and pictures please visit:

Lakshmi Suryanarayanan - Head Teacher of the School