Sullamussalam Oriental Higher Secondary School is the continuing realisation of the vision of NV Abdussalam Moulavi, who built educational Institutions with the earnest determination of developing a new generation, and nurturing a social development perspective at a time when the population was largely engaged in agriculture. It was also by foresight that he handed over its supervision to the able hands of NV Ibrahim Master, the school's first headmaster, who led SOHSS and the Areekode region, to become the centre for education in the Malabar region.
Sulamussalam Oriental Higher Secondary School, Areekode, was founded in 1955 by a group of visionaries under the Oriental Scheme of Education charted out by Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first minister for Educational Affairs. This programme was created to give a much-needed push to the people from minority communities who were struggling to catch up with the mainstream due to their poor educational and socio-economic conditions. SOHSS has played a crucial role in making education accessible to the women of the community.
The school has uniquely provided quality education across a range of subjects, including Arabic and Islamic studies, persuading the more conservative sections of the community to open up to the idea of sending their girl children to school. This gradually changed the demographic and socio- economic scenario of the community and the region in a big way, with many girls today making their mark in professional fields.
SOHSS takes in a majority of students from weak financial backgrounds and gives them material support and a high-quality, all round education. The school has earned many accolades for various academic and extracurricular activities, including the Internal Supporting Mission (ISM) Certification and the RMSA Best School Award. Any student who secures a pass in secondary schooling from SOHSS is eligible for teaching Arabic in the Lower Primary section of
the educational institutions run by the Government of Kerala. Many SOHSS students have earned jobs as Arabic Teachers at a very young age, and have graduated with flying colours from various Arabic Colleges to become educators and administrators. They have carried the tradition of the institution forward by establishing several educational institutions in and around the region in the last many decades.
The people of Areekode acquired cent percent literacy even in Arabic and English years before the famous Total Literacy Movement in the state began. The direct and indirect role played by SOHSS in this story is invaluable. Besides successful professionals, the school has also produced famous writers, orators, and scholars who have been the moving forces behind social reforms in the once backward
Muslim community of the Malabar region. From advances in music to sports, and engineering to religious studies, and from the rapid progress of a so-called backward community to the growing strength of its women, the historic success of Areekode and of the Malabar region owes something to a small school nestled deep in its quiet green heart, beside a river, close to nature.
Few schools can claim to have transformed a whole region, re-written its history and shaped its future the way SOHSS Areekode has done. It is one of those rare educational success stories that continue to realize the far-reaching vision of its founders long after their time.
At present, SOHSS has more than 2,700 students in 50 divisions from class V to XII, overseen by nearly 75 mentors, a well-stocked library with over 10000 books, an ongoing muitimedia classroom project supported by parents, teachers, and alumni. Over six decades, the school has produced engineers, doctors, sports persons, teachers and other professionals who have risen to prominence regionally and internationally.