Mother Miracle School is a high ranking, non-profit K-12 English school with 60 dedicated Indian paid employees and 588 enthusiastic underprivileged students who receive the best education, healthcare and nutrition including glass of milk and “all you can eat” daily meal as well as extracurricular and empowerment.
“From 2002 to 2010, It took 8 years of extreme difficulties, challenges and unbelievable bureaucracies to achieve my goal to acquire permissions of creating Mother Miracle School. The greatest challenge I faced was understanding and working with a foreign culture without knowing the language, but with perseverance and love of the children in my heart, it was finally realized. I never gave up and finally was able to get all the government permissions required. From 2010 to 2016, I purchased 4 adjacent land areas to create our beautiful 50,000 sq ft school which is housed in 4 connected 4 story buildings. I used my architectural background and personal financial assets to make my vision a reality, the best free K-12 school for impoverished children in the slums of Rishikesh.”
Shahla Ettefagh, Founder and President
Our students come from extremely poor backgrounds. For the most part, each family with 5-7 members live all together in one rented room of a compound. They typically share one water pump and one bathroom with 35-50 other people.
Admission of our kindergarteners is open to all underprivileged children. However, sadly, because of our limited space not everyone can be admitted. Hundreds of parents and children line up outside our school door as early as 4 a.m. for the life changing chance and opportunity of their child becoming a Mother Miracle student, so we admit only one child per family. Our primary school teachers end up selecting a total of 60 new kindergartners ranging in age 4.5 to 6 with the highest scores in comprehensive English, Hindi, and math from their verbal and written exams. This happens every single year
School children run excitedly to school at 7:30 AM. Their day begins with a warm glass of milk followed by the morning assembly. In the morning assembly, news of the day is shared by our high school students in both English and Hindi, and then our school band leads with music, singing and chanting prayers such as Hanuman Chalisa, which consists of 40 verses that address to God’s symbols of strength and energy. Our kindergarten memorise all 40 verses.
In Our k-12 English school, 588 underprivileged children, are studying in beautiful well-designed classrooms, equipped with electricity, lights, and fans, and 60 CC cameras as well. All over India, each state has board exams for 10th and 12th graders. Students must pass this board exam to receive a state education certificate to be able to enter the college. Our school has consistently ranked mostly above 80% to 96% with honors every single year. In 2020 state board exams, among the 150,000 statewide students tested, we had two students rank top12th and 25th.
Mother Miracle School emphasizes and specializes in cutting edge technology training. We are educating our bright students to be leaders in the digital age.
Our most recent update is that we have shifted the school focus to emphasize technology.
The students are thriving in learning innovative technology. We have created 3 state-of-the art computer labs and 2 IOT (Internet of Things) Labs. We have now 140 computers and laptops and direct high-speed internet. We are in the process of building a software company for our students as well to assure their continued success.
Today grades kindergarten to 1 are learning typing and Microsoft, grades 2 thru 5 are making movies and games with Scratch coding program from MIT. Grades 6 thru 10 are learning C and C++ and Python coding language as well as Java and java script. They are making Apps and daily are attending IOT and coding labs and making interesting projects.
Our focus and intention is to create a world famous school in terms of computer science.
This is the only way they will be able to break the cycle of poverty ….. by finding a job in our consulting company or creating their own IT company to support their families. One day they will give back to the community by sponsoring a student at Mother Miracle School “to break the cycle of poverty through education”.
We also have built 3 well equipped science labs for biology, chemistry, and physics for grades 6th to 12th. Our Middle school children also visit these labs to become familiar with Science projects and equipment’s.
Since 2008, 100% of our children have shown extreme improvement in height & weight as compared to the average child in their community.
Most of our students come to school hungry. For breakfast we provide a full glass of milk, and our 10 dedicated kitchen staff prepare a warm and nutritious “all you can eat” lunch 6 days a week. We provide lunch for our 60 teachers and staff as well.
We partnered with dieticians and volunteers from Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, UK to conduct detailed analyses of our student’s growth average dietary intake to create a well-balanced school menu.
100% of our students show impressive growth in height and weight every year. Look at the walls around the dining hall, more than 500 award, certificate and trophies given to our children past 12 years are displayed in this room.
I call it “Hall of Fame!” Shahla Ettefagh
Living in the slums of Rishikesh, our children are constantly threatened by illness and disease from contaminated water, poor sanitation, and non-hygienic food preparation. We provide free healthcare for our students which includes twice a year deworming, doctor’s visits, necessary medications, and hospital care. We also provide free dental care for our students.
Aside from academics, our school also puts an emphasis on extracurricular activities like sports, dance, art, music, and karate. Additionally, we encourage a holistic approach to life as we provide yoga, daily morning chanting, as well as and daily meditation for 15 minutes, followed by sending healing energy to themselves and all beings.
Children Practice yoga from Kindergarten to class 12th on Saturdays for our Annual Function. Daily 10-15 minutes Meditation and sending energy healing to themselves and others is being practice after lunch even from Kindergarten.
The school Art room is filled with art supplies. Students’ artworks are displayed on the school walls. They have won many art competitions and have received many trophies.
Dance and performance are especially important at our school. Every year we rent a large performance hall and our children play music, sing, perform yoga and dance in front of 1500 parents and guests. They also participate in school and state competitions and always win the first prize in dance! Daily, the sound of Music comes from our music room as our students learn to play instruments and sing with their teachers. They have even produced a CD of their music!
Our Sports program has created boys’ and girls’ volleyball and table tennis teams. they compete in state level competitions, and they have become the champions of our state in both sports! This year Nainsi Rastogi in 11th grade was selected for the National Federation of India Volleyball team and the Captain of the Uttarakhand Junior team!
Toy room for kindergarten is a fun place to be! All the toys we have are donated by USA kids. Our school children have never had a toy in their life, so they love this room.
Self-steam is the core philosophy at mother miracle school, from a young age our students are trained to believe in themselves, set goals and achieve anything they set their minds to achieving.
Our oldest example is the recitation of positive affirmations that Shahla Ettefagh the founder put in place for each of our students to express each day at school.
For example, every day you can hear our students yell out with excitement that they can do and achieve anything!
Empowerment coaching seminars by Mr Anil Gupta, Ajay Gupta and a large group of volunteers accompany them was implemented to empower our students from class 6th to 12th. The innovative concept of vision board brought and implemented in our school by our Amazing Ajay Gupta a board of director and volunteer. Every student grade 6-12 has a vision board which shows their dreams, aspirations, and goals, it is laminated and hanged in their classroom; they look at it every day and work hard so those goals can be achieved.
See how we’re providing high-quality K-12 English and computer education to underprivileged children in India.
Find out how we maximize the impact of every dollar. We change the lives of 625 kids through our school every year.
See the people behind Mother Miracle School and learn more about the team and our founder Shahla Ettefagh.
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Creating lasting change for a child and the
Rishikesh community in India.
Behind the eyes and smiles of our children, there lies a remarkable story. Sponsor a child and help break the cycle of poverty.
We invite anyone with an open heart and a desire to serve to join us in the beautiful city of Rishikesh as a long-term volunteer.
