Welham Boys' School

History

Welham was founded in 1937 as a preparatory school for boarding schools in England and India, by Hersilia Susie Oliphant, an English lady.

She named the school after her home village of Welham, Nottinghamshire. She later founded a sister school, Welham Girls' School.

In 1956 Miss Oliphant donated all her assets to the Welham Boys' School, which presently is administered by a board of trustees. As of 2026, the school is an active member of the Round Square. The school hosts model united nations conferences as well as military awareness seminars

Campus

Some major sites are the White House (the oldest structure on campus), Bethany (Dining Hall), the hospital, the main field, lower grounds and various other fields, courts and ranges for sports .

The residencies are primarily the Oliphant House for Junior School, Shikhar Hostel for Jamuna and Ganga houses, Triveni for Cauvery house and Woodseats for Krishna house.

Controversies

2024 sexual harassment and ragging complaint

In 2024, the father of a Class 8 boarding student, a retired police officer from Assam, alleged that his son had been ragged and sexually harassed by senior students at the hostel in May. After withdrawing his son from the school, he filed a zero FIR in Assam, which was later transferred to Dalanwala police station in Dehradun. Police registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and began an investigation. At the time, reports said that the student had identified senior classmates as the alleged suspects.

The father alleged that the administration had not acted on his earlier complaint. Members of the National Students' Union of India entered the campus and demanded accountability from the principal. Principal Sangeeta Kain said the school had spoken to the student and parents after receiving the complaint, interviewed staff and students, and found no evidence to substantiate the allegations; she said the boy had left for home when the term closed on 18 May. Dehradun police confirmed that the transferred case was under investigation.

2021 halal meat tender

In June 2021, the school published a newspaper tender seeking suppliers of halal meat and poultry for its mess. Members of the Bajrang Dal protested at the campus, alleging that the tender's reference to only halal meat hurt the religious sentiments of Hindu students and staff. An FIR was registered at Dalanwala police station against the principal, vice-principal and manager under Section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with statements that promote enmity between groups. The case was filed following a complaint by the Bajrang Dal's Dehradun convenor.

School officials said that the mess already served both halal and jhatka meat. They explained that a separate tender for other food items, including jhatka meat, was also planned. The school issued an unconditional apology and said that the tender had not been issued with any communal intention. It also formed an internal committee to examine the error and later published a new tender that included both jhatka meat and poultry.

Notable alumni

Lt. General Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj - Ex-vice army chief and a War hero from the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 and member of the Board of Governors at the Welham Boys' School.

Naveen Patnaik - Chief Minister of Odisha, India

Mani Shankar Aiyar - Politician, Former Cabinet Minister of India

Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, Economist

Shaad Ali - Film director

Rajiv Gandhi - Former Prime Minister of India

Sanjay Gandhi - Politician

Zayed Khan - Actor

Vikas Kumar - Actor

Jubin Nautiyal - Bollywood singer

Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi - Former Captain of the India national cricket team, Nawab of Pataudi

Vikram Seth - Author

Kunwar Sushant Singh- Member of Legislative Assembly, Barhapur

Wajahat Habibullah- First Chief Information Commissioner of India

Miangul Aurangzeb - last Wali Ahad (Crown Prince) of the former Swat State

Dhairya Karwa - Actor

Lalit Modi - businessman