About Don Bosco Society
The Don Bosco Society, also known as the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), was founded in the late nineteenth century by St. John Bosco, an Italian priest and visionary educator dedicated to the upliftment of youth, especially the poor and marginalized. Guided by faith and compassion, Don Bosco introduced the Preventive System of Education, founded on Reason, Religion, and Loving-kindness.
Today, the Society is one of the world’s largest educational networks, with over 16,000 members in more than 130 countries, devoted to educating and empowering young people through academic excellence, technical training, and moral formation.
About Don Bosco
St. John Bosco, lovingly known as Don Bosco, was the founder of the religious and educational society called the Salesians of Don Bosco. He was born in 1815 into a poor family in Italy. Even as a young boy, he felt a strong desire to help the underprivileged youth around him. He believed that the best way to uplift them was through education, skill training, and good moral values.
Don Bosco worked hard to become a priest and dedicated his entire life to serving young people, especially the poor. He provided them with food, shelter, and education, and started schools, technical institutes, hostels, and churches for their growth and well-being.
He also formed a group of helpers—many of them his own former students—who shared his vision and continued his mission. Together, they expanded their work across Europe and eventually to other parts of the world.
Don Bosco passed away on January 31, 1888, but his legacy lives on. He was declared a saint by the Catholic Church on April 1, 1934, and his mission of love and service continues through the Don Bosco institutions that care for thousands of young people, regardless of caste, creed, or religion.
Don Bosco Society in India
The Salesians of Don Bosco, a global community of over 16,000 members, have been working for more than 150 years to educate and empower people—especially underprivileged and marginalized youth—across the world.
Although Don Bosco himself never visited India, he once had a vision in 1886 in which he saw Calcutta marked on the map as a place where his followers would one day serve. This vision became a reality in 1906, when the Salesians arrived in India and started a small trade school and hostel for poor children in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
Their mission later expanded to Northeast India in 1922. Today, there are more than 3,000 Salesians in the region, actively involved in running schools, technical institutes, colleges, and even a university. They also focus on skill development and provide care and support to young people in need, staying true to Don Bosco’s dream of helping youth build a brighter future.
The legacy of Don Bosco in India continues to inspire educational excellence, moral discipline, and community service. Each Don Bosco institution, including Don Bosco College, Diphu, carries forward this heritage by fostering intellectual growth, spiritual depth, and social commitment in the students it serves.
The Don Bosco Society has since expanded its work throughout the area. They have established a number of reputable organizations that continue this tradition.
Today, the Don Bosco Society manages several reputed colleges across the North Eastern states. These include:
Don Bosco Colleges in North East India
The goal of Don Bosco’s Salesians has been to transform Northeast India’s higher education system. They have aided generations of students in developing their knowledge and character by upholding their core values of excellence, discipline, and values-based education.
1. Assam
1. Don Bosco University, Guwahati
2. Don Bosco College of Engineering & Technology, Guwahati
3. Don Bosco Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati
4. Don Bosco Institute of Management, Guwahati
5. Don Bosco Junior College, Bongaigaon
6. Don Bosco College, Bongaigaon
7. Don Bosco Junior College, Diphu
8. Don Bosco College, Diphu
9. Don Bosco College, Golaghat
10.Bosco Institute of Social Work,Jorhat
2. Arunachal Pradesh
1. Don Bosco College, Itanagar
3. Manipur
1. Don Bosco College (Autonomous), Maram
4. Meghalaya
1. St. Anthony’s College, Shillong
2. Sacred Heart eological College, Shillong
3. St. Anthony’s College, Byndihati
4. Don Bosco Junior College, Tura
5. Don Bosco College, Tura
6. Don Bosco College of Teacher Education, Tura
5. Nagaland
1. Don Bosco College, Kohima
2. Salesian College of Higher Education, Dimapur
3. Salesian College of Teacher Education, Dimapur
Each of these colleges follows the vision of St. John Bosco, focusing on the all-round growth of students through knowledge, values, and responsibility. The Don Bosco Colleges of North East India have become lively centers of education, helping thousands of young men and women to learn, grow, and become leaders who live with honesty, kindness and a sense of purpose.