In the pre-independence era the education provided by the elite schools of Kolkata was based on Western mores, which completely ignored India’s rich cultural heritage. Parents who wanted their wards to receive an education based on traditional Indian values were thus faced with a moral dilemma. It took one eminent thinker, our founder, the late Sri.L.N.Birla to translate vision into reality.

His prime concern was the state of contemporary Indian education. He watched with growing alarm the rapid rise of materialism in India and its impact on Indian youth, already toiling under colonial rule. He wanted a school based on Indian values and culture which, by very definition, would open its windows to thoughts and ideas from all four corners of the globe. To fulfil this mission, Hindi High School was established in 1940. A unique educational institution, its aim was to impart learning that blended the traditional with the modern, the aesthetic with the scientific. This vision of ushering in a new order in the sphere of education found emblematic representation in the school motto, "Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamay" - from darkness unto light.

Hindi High School was re-christened “Birla High School” in 1997. With a change in name came a search for a fresh identity worthy of the student who stood poised on the brink of a new millennium, which was the compendium of the past, the present and the future. Today a resurgent spirit marks the activities of the school whose management and the teachers ensure that the students are able to keep abreast of recent technological advancement and global trends without losing touch with their roots.