About Nari Siksha Samiti in 294/3 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata

NARI SIKSHA SAMITI, a non profit making Society registered under Act XXI of 1860, was founded in 1919 by Lady Abala Bose, Wife of the illustrious scientist Acharya Jagadis Chandra Bose with the objective of educating children, girls and women. ninety years ago, Nari Siksha Samiti (a non-profit making voluntary society for public charity viz. Education and Vocational Training of distressed Women) came into existence in 1919. It is important to look back at the social history of Bengal of the 19th and early 20th century in order to appreciate the need for such work done in favour of women and girls. Child marriages were the order of the day as was the presence of child widows in large numbers in a callous society. Lack of education and total economic and social dependence on the male members of the family resulted in the very low status held by women at that time. Dowry and other social pressures on women in general and some of the disadvantaged sections such as widows in particular, made the lives of the majority of women intolerable. Under the influence of Raja Rammohan Roy, Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sister Nivedita, new perceptions concerning women started emerging and those women who were fortune enough to grow up in the milieu of the new enlightenment did not overlook the plight of the vast majority of their less fortunate sisters.


Lady Abala Bose during her lifetime established about 88 Primary Schools and 14 Adult Educationa Centers in different parts of undivided Bengal. Lady bose was also the pioneer thinker for establishing Centres like Mahila Shilpa Bhavan in Kolkata and Jhargram for providing vocational training to distressed women, , particularly widows, and securing placement for them so that they could earn their own livelihood through private entrepreneurship. In India, she was the first person who through of institutional Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher's Training for Which she established Vidyasagar Bani Bhavan Primary Teachers Training Institute in 1925. The sensitive perception of the needs of impoverished women in urban and rural Bengal and of the young oppressed widows led Lady Bose to formulae a pattern of education through the aegis of Nari Siksha Samiti to fulfill the crying demands of the time. A piece of land at 294/3 A.P.C Rd. was donated to Nari Siksha Samiti by the then Mayor of Calcutta Corporation, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, from where the activities of the Samiti commenced and continues to do so till date.


Founders: Lady Abala Bose, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Smt. Jadumati Mukherjee (Mother of Sir Rajen Mukherjee), Eminent Scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Eminent Social Reformer Smt. Priyambada Banerjee, Eminent Physician Sir Nilratan Sircar, Smt. Bimala Das, Sir Devaprasad Sarbhidhikari, Sir D.C Mitter, Swami Saradananda, Shri Prafullanath Tagore, Sri S.M. Bose, Smt. Charubala Mitter, Smt. Suprava Ray (Mother of Eminent Film Director, Sri Satyajit Ray) and many other eminent personalities of the emerging Bengal Renaissance.