Grantee Profile: Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie

Tibetan Homes Foundation (THF), Mussoorie is one of the premier Tibetan school in exile dedicated to working for the care of orphans, semi orphan, and destitute Tibetan refugee children. It was established in 1962 by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama to provide home-like care, education and an environment that encourages learning of Tibetan language and unique cultural values to Tibetan refugee children.

The Foundation was set up under the vision and guidance of His Holiness by Mrs. Rinchen Dolma Taring, then the first General Secretary of THF, with three Homes and seventy five orphaned and destitute Tibetan refugee children. Now it has grown into an institution with over 2000 orphan, semi-orphan, destitute children living in 58 Homes and three hostels and receiving education in the main residential school at Mussoorie and two branches located at Rajpur and near Rishikesh. From its inception in 1962 till now, 15 General Secretaries from Mrs Rinchen Dolma Taring till presently Mr. Karma Chungdak have worked and committed for the success of the school and looking after the welfare of the student. The school’s total strength is 1661 (858 male & 803 female) students of an equal number of gender. The school’s class XII pass percentage in the 2017 AISSC board examination was 96.34% and Mr.Tenzin Chemi with 92.2% was awarded the prestigious Sikyong Award for securing first position in the Arts stream.

The school also granted higher studies scholarship ranging from Rs 58,500/ to Rs 75,000 per year amounting to Rs 1, 80, 00,000. In 2017, 390 students are pursuing their higher studies in colleges/universities in India. 40 students are pursing in professional line course of M.Pharmacy (4), M. Tech (3), B.Tech (18), Air Hostess (2), MBA (1), LLB/BALLB (9) and M.Phil (3). Norzang Foundation based in Switzerland grants scholarship for 75 students and another 20 students receives from Department of Education, CTA. Remaining around 76% of the total budget has to be met from the school’s general fund as they don’t have any assured source of fund for the scholarship program.

THF also runs a vocational training center which was established in 1965. The center teaches the oil painting, traditional Tibetan Thangka painting and tailoring according to the students wish and talent. It helps in preserving our unique Tibetan culture. Presently, 12 students are learning the Thangka painting, 8 in oil painting and 2 students in the tailoring section.

Funding Provided by CTA

Through Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM), United States Department via SARD, CTA’s Department of Finance, the school receives an yearly formal education scholarship funding support of an estimated Rs 1 crore for 700 students. In the preceding two program years of 2016-17 and 2017-18, a total grant of Rs 1.39 crore and Rs 1.43 were provided under the PRM-supported program. A substantial amount was also granted by the same donor for the school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities of clean drinking water and toilet renovation projects of the school.

The school also received USAID grants facilitated by SARD of Rs 31, 87,460 in the 2017-18 program year for school quality educational activities of teacher professional development, science exhibition, smart class, library internet connection, classroom improvement and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure improvement via Department of Education, CTA. The sole aim of the above activities is for the improvement of overall education quality of the school.