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Siliguri, West Bengal · EducationNot a visit. A presence.
School adoption is how Humrahi Foundation shows up for education in Siliguri, West Bengal: resources, programmes and people who keep coming back, rather than a one-time donation drive.
What school adoption looks like at Humrahi
When Humrahi Foundation adopts a school in an underserved part of Siliguri, we don't treat it as a single visit or a photo-op donation. The school is adopted outright, with resources, programmes and a steady Humrahi presence rather than a one-time visit. That's the difference we try to make: a classroom that knows we'll be back next month, not just once, and a teacher who has someone to call when something is needed.
For us, education and the environment are two fronts of one belief: protecting the planet and preparing the children who'll inherit it are the same job. And it connects to everything else we do: a warm meal from our food distribution programme opens the door, and an adopted school keeps a child in class. Across Siliguri and West Bengal, that steady presence has added up to 5,000+ students supported so far. School adoption is one half of our wider education work in Siliguri; the other half picks a student up after the last schoolbell.
Grown out of a 2020 food van
School adoption wasn't part of any original plan. Humrahi Foundation began in 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, when founder Lalan Mahato started driving food to families who'd lost their daily wage. What followed was response rather than strategy: school adoptions, free health camps, cleanup drives, blood donation camps, each one an answer to a need we saw in front of us. Schools were one of those needs, and once we started showing up for them, we didn't see a reason to stop.
Today Humrahi Foundation is a government-recognised, registered NGO holding 12A, 80G, CSR-1, NGO Darpan and FSSAI registrations, a long way from a single van in a lockdown, though the instinct behind it hasn't changed. You can read the fuller story of how the food runs turned into a foundation, and how school adoption became part of it, on the about page.
“The classrooms they'll grow up in, the ground they'll stand on, both worth showing up for.”
What an adopted school gets
Adopted outright
Schools in underserved areas are given resources, programmes, and a steady Humrahi presence, not a one-time visit.
Programmes & competitions
Drawing competitions, events and activities that give students something to look forward to beyond the syllabus.
Celebrations, together
Independence Day, Republic Day, annual days: celebrated at the school, with Humrahi volunteers in the crowd, not just at the gate.
One belief, two fronts
The environment work and the education work meet in the same idea: protecting the planet and preparing the children who'll inherit it are the same job.
Rooted in Siliguri, working across West Bengal
Our base is Parameshwar Niwas, Gudiya Jote, Matigara, on the edge of Siliguri in Darjeeling district, West Bengal, and that's where most of our adopted schools are, in neighbourhoods where a steady partner makes more difference than an occasional one. As with all our work, we don't do this alone: our school adoption programme runs alongside the schools themselves and local administration across Siliguri, just as our wider work runs alongside blood banks and Lions and Rotary chapters. It's the same approach behind every Humrahi programme: find the people already doing the work in a neighbourhood, and stand beside them rather than around them. More about how Humrahi works as an NGO in Siliguri.
From the ground in Siliguri. See many more moments in our media & photo gallery.
How you can help an adopted school
School adoption runs on the same two things as everything else we do: hands and funds. Here's how to add either:
- Volunteer at the school. Presence is the only skill required, whether at the school, the kitchen, the cleanup drive or the blood camp. Start at get involved on our homepage.
- Give what keeps a classroom running. A one-time or monthly gift helps fund resources and programmes at an adopted school. Donations are eligible for 50% tax exemption under Section 80G.
- Spread the word. Share our work with someone in Siliguri or West Bengal who has time, skills or a classroom's worth of supplies to offer. Most of our volunteers first heard about Humrahi from a friend.
Every rupee is tracked. See our transparency reports.
- Registered NGO
- 80G
- 12A
- CSR-1
- NGO Darpan
- FSSAI
Two programmes, one belief
Education at Humrahi runs in two programmes. This page, School Adoption, is programme 01: schools adopted outright, given resources, programmes and a steady presence, year after year. When our students outgrow the classroom, the walk continues in programme 02: our free skilling programme, run as a Skills Development Network partner institute supported by the Wadhwani Foundation, whose employability curriculum features in NCERT textbooks and the Ministry of Education's national syllabus.
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