Home  IMDR Overview Deccan Education Society |
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| Deccan
Education Society (DES ) |
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 The Deccan Education Society (DES) was established
in 1884 by the stalwarts of India’s freedom struggle, like
AGARKAR and TILAK and later built by great personalities of the
era, like GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE and DHONDO
KESHAV KARVE (honoured with Bharat Ratna).
In Gokhale’s famous words, "..it represents
an idea and an ideal. The idea is that Indians of the present
day can bind themselves together and putting aside all thoughts
of worldly interest, work for a secular purpose with the zeal
and enthusiasm which we generally find in the sphere of religion
alone. The ideal is the ideal of self-help, that we may learn
slowly but steadily to rely less and less upon others,... and
more and more upon ourselves."
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The DES Society adopted a democratic
structure at a time when modern democratic practice was new in
India. Teachers’ participation in academic and administrative
matters is a unique feature of the DES institutions,
which number 30 today. It became a model of the teacher-managed
institutions in Maharashtra and symbolised PEOPLE’S OWN
INITIATIVE in evolving Education as a means of national regeneration.
The Fergusson College was the first institution
to win nationwide acclaim for its academic standards. Its students
were imbued with a national spirit and liberal-democratic values.
It has played a major role in shaping the social and developmental
processes in Maharashtra. TILAK, AGARKAR, GOKHALE, KARVE and many
others made a sterling contribution to different aspects of national
endeavour. The traditions and values established by them continue
to guide the affairs of the Society.
One of the main goals of the DE Society was to
provide education to WIDER SECTIONS OF SOCIETY by making it cheap
and affordable. The selfless work of the founding fathers always
impressed and attracted philanthropists and through their generous
contributions, several institutions with ample facilities came
up.
Even today, the Society receives unsolicited
donations from well-wishers in India and abroad. Fees in the institutions
of the Society have always been moderate and people from other
parts of the country invariably wonder, how huge institutions
have been created without charging exorbitant fees. The Society
always strove to integrate the Western scientific and rationalist
traditions with the pluralistic culture of India and thus evolved
its unique liberal-democratic values. "...by admitted and
established traditions are meant such traditions as are implied
in and connoted by the AGARKAR-GOKHALE-PARANJAPYE creed which
mainly consists in steadily resisting all extremist and non-cooperation
activities and in supporting all progressive social movements..."
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The Society was the first to recognise portents
of times. It started a Commerce College before Independence. Similarly,
it pioneered MANAGEMENT EDUCATION in 1968 at a time when the Engineering
and Automobile industry in Pune was just beginning to take shape.
At the start of the liberalisation process in 1991, the Deccan
Education Society pioneered a full-time Education programme in
INTERNATIONAL TRADE. The society has several firsts to its credit
in the conventional disciplines which form part of the Arts and
Science streams.
The spirit of entrepreneurship in
the social field has been amply in evidence in the growth of the
institutions of the Deccan Education Society. Collegiate-level
institutions of DES are :
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Other
DES Institutes |
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Technical Institute, Pune (estd
1937) |
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Institute of Applied Research
& Development in Agriculture, Sangli (estd1982) |
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J Rathi Vocational Guidance
& Training Institute, JRVGTI Pune (estd 1987) |
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Institute of Management &
Research, Sangli (estd 1996) |
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© 2008. IMDR Institute of Management Development
and Research. |
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