DECCAN EDUCATION SOCIETY, PUNE , the parent body of Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, is a venerable name in the educational firmament of our country. Born out of the lofty ideals and the intense desire of four firebrand, nationalist, young men barely in their twenties and thirties, who believed in education as the best means to bring about social transformation of the Indian populace and political emancipation from the yoke of foreign rule, the Deccan Education Society has been rendering yeoman service to the nation for well over a century. Ever since its inception,
“Facilitating and cheapening education” has been the mission of the Society which it has been pursuing with steadfast determination and uncompromising commitment.
The four young men – Bal Gangadhar Tilak ( popularly known as ” Lokmanya ” and acknowledged as one of the leading figures of the freedom movement), Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (the great social reformer), Vishnushastri Chiplunkar (the doyen of Marathi literature) and Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi a well-known social worker) – had nothing to offer except their firm belief in the chosen goal, an abiding faith , honesty of purpose and steadfast determination. India was then a loose amalgamation of politically fragmented and economically impoverished princely states under an exploitative foreign rule. Further, it was steeped in debilitating traditions, as a result of which the public masses had unconsciously developed an in-built mechanism to resist any meaningful reforms. It was, therefore, the most appropriate decision on the part of these four action-oriented social thinkers to launch an educational movement to bring about an awakening among the masses. The result was the founding of the Deccan Education Society on the 24th October, 1884 – the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashami (“Dashehra”).
In the establishment of the Deccan Education Society, these men of vision saw the great potential of education as the emancipator of the masses, bringing in them a new awakening. Such was the dynamic driving force of these founders that within less than three months of the founding of the Society, the Fergusson College was started on the 2nd of January, 1885.
The next few years witnessed rapid expansion of the Society’s activities by way of the growth and development of the existing institutions, and starting new ones in and outside Pune. The Deccan Education Society always remained alert to the changing needs of the larger social set up for which and within which it functioned.
Deccan Education Society, Pune was established in 1884 and registered on 13th August 1885 and by four patriotic visionaries- Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Mahadeo Ballal Namjoshi-who were already recognized as the pioneers of new education in India with the Launch of New English School in Pune in the year 1880. This was a revolutionary step, because in those days Government Institutions and Christian Missionaries were the only agencies involved in educating masses. Private enterprise in education was often discouraged. It was also pointed out by these Nationalists that there was no education available to generate leadership, for industrial regeneration of India, or for defense of the motherland i.e. education Required by the people of a self – governing nation. it was the idea of filling these voids that the DES came in to existence. In the view of its founders, Education was the means of rousing-the intellect, the drooping will and the slumbering conscience of their fallen countrymen. They began with a modest aim of facilitating education at low costs by starting schools and colleges.
In the year 1885, the renowned Fergusson College was started. in the year1919, DES established Willingdon College in The southern region of Maharashtra at Sangli on a 125 acre campus. Recognizing the need for commerce Education, the society started Brihan Maharashtra College of commerce in 1943 in follwed by Chintamanarao College of Commerce in Sangli in 1960. In the year 1954, Kirti M Doongursee College was established in Mumbai. The Society entered in the field of technical education too with the launch of Technical Institute in Pune (1937). DES started management institute viz. IMDR in 1974 at Pune and IMR at Sangli in 1996, the year 2003 witnessed addition of DES Law College and the year 2007 DES started Physiotherapy College. DES also runs an autonomous institute in the field of Vocational Training at Pune. With a view to imparting basic education, the Society has started many schools at various places in the state. The DES management is trying to expand its educational activities as per the requirements of the society in general, guided and aided by educationists, visionaries, philanthropists and ex-students, in order to pursue its goal ‘Knowledge is Power’.