Preserving a Legacy of Love, Hope and Familyhood

1. Repurposing of DGH assets.

Recent years have seen a repurposing of assets of Dr Graham’s Homes. The Birkmyre Hostel, a gift to the boys of DGH, was mysteriously let to Loretto girls, having had one of their nuns serve on the BOM (Board of Management). A labour of love donation that was the girl’s hostel at 38 Elliot Road has been sold, in less than transparent circumstances.  Another major donation, Centenary Cottage, was leased for a pittance, despite early warnings against the move, during the development of the Independent Review. Questions raised about this by a prominent member of the UK Committee led to a campaign by the BOM against him that forced him to resign.  Meanwhile Willingdon and Fraser hostels, together with Laidlaw, Assam and Hart cottages, remain uninhabitable, due to prolonged negligence, leaving the school vulnerable to losing parts of its estate for lack of use.

 2. Proposals.

 In 2022, the alumni group OGBS4CHANGE volunteered to renovate all the closed cottages and up-skill the workforce, but the offer was rejected because the BOM stated that they had not yet determined their future plans for these cottages. Undeterred, this group returned with a detailed offer in May 2023 to restore Willingdon Hostel, to a standard that would be highly attractive to current and potential students. Bureaucratic obstacles were then used to insist that OGBS4CHANGE become a ‘registered’ group, whilst others proclaimed its intentions were engulfed by sentimentality. Partly in response to this, the group evolved, eventually leading to its registration in 2024 as an all-India Society, the Society for the Preservation of Dr Graham’s Homes (SPDGH).

 In December 2023 OGBS4CHANGE submitted a proposal to refurbish the Steel Memorial Hospital (SMH), which has now become a formal project of SPDGH, who have already raised sufficient funds to carry out the first phase of renovation, together with assembling qualified personnel ready to partner with them.  However, the Chair of the BOM replied to the SPDGH proposal:

“At present, however, the school must focus on several priority projects already identified on our official website, which you and your association are also well aware of. Given the scope and urgency of these initiatives, we regret to inform you that we are unable to take up the SMC dispensary renovation at this time.”

In fact there is no such list of priority projects on the official website https://drgrahamshomes.net/ which also does not contain an updated list of BOM members, nor the Governance Policy under which new members were recruited.

Thus, the sad condition of the SMH and the other dilapidated structures that once echoed joy and harmony seem destined to continue.

Given the desperate financial situation of the school, it is very hard to understand why the BOM would turn down such an offer of help by a registered alumni association. The refusal raises the fear that some other undisclosed plans for the SMH are under consideration, following the path whereby Centenary Cottage was leased to Allied Health Services for a paltry rent. This fear is reinforced by recent social media posts, in which, as part of an apparent campaign to justify the BOM’s rejection of the proposal, the SMH is classed as “redundant” and an “inanimate structure”, suggesting that “turning it into something else could be an interesting option”.  

 This would be consistent with some hidden agenda for SMH lying behind the refusal to accept the proposal to renovate SMH.

It is mandatory for a residential school to have a proper medical facility for both children and staff living on campus, and the standard of such a facility is an important factor in attracting parents desiring admission of their child as a boarder. So, the renovation of SMH is vital for the future of DGH as a boarding school.

Although there is no formal priority list on the school website, such a list has been circulated, and is attached below. This list betrays a failure to understand what is important for the school, for example proposing 70 lakhs for a car park.

3. The legacy of Dr Graham

Dr Graham founded the school as a home for disadvantaged children, a mission regarded as essential to preserve by OGBs, and which binds together the OGB community. However, this mission appears threatened by a failure to implement standard procedures for the maintenance of the infrastructure and prepare a 5- or 10-year plan for the future of the school. In particular many of the most important recommendations of the 2022 Independent Review have been ignored, while small cosmetic projects are implemented with great fanfare.

The current situation at the school should be seen in the light of the puzzling failure in 2000 to renew the lease for the school’s land holding, which formerly comprised 500 acres. This brought the school under the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955, which caps the maximum possible land holding. A proposal to renew the lease with a land holding of 140 acres was made around 2010, but despite many representations no clarification of the situation has been made public.

Because the school lies on valuable land there is every reason to fear that land deals are being discussed with developers that would threaten many aspects of the functioning of Dr Graham’s Homes as a boarding school. For example, a day school requires less acreage than a sprawling residential campus, while neglecting medical facilities on campus gives the impression of an agenda to phase out boarding. The rejection of free aid for the renovation of the buildings suggests that the Board may be intentionally dismantling the boarding section to repurpose the institution.

4. Priority list:

Although the Betty Sherriff Arena is not listed in priority list of projects, we understand it to have been approved and the current estimated cost is 1.5 crores.