Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha (MKSSS) was established in 1896 by the great visionary and social reformer Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve, to provide education to women and make them self-reliant. MKSSS aims at “Empowerment of Women through Education“as Maharshi Karve believed that “Women’s Education & National Development are complementary to each other.”
In the beginning, he started the “Anath Balikashram”, with an objective to provide education to child widows. The Anath Balikashram started functioning from 14th June 1896. The first building of the Institution was a tiny hut constructed on a small piece of land in Hingne, at a distance of about 4 km, from Pune. In the beginning, only 4 girls were admitted and started getting education in this Kutir (hut). This noble activity of the Institution gradually started gathering society’s attention and people started responding positively. Later on, a school and a girls’ hostel was constructed in the campus. As the society witnessed the work of the Institution, myths and misunderstandings were cleared from the minds of the people and they started providing support. There was a need of volunteers to continue the work towards this noble cause. This need gave rise to the formation of an organization, ‘Nishkaam Karma Math’. Eventually, this organization was dissolved; yet the selfless volunteers who were life workers of the Institution are still working for the Institution.
Thereafter, two schools for girls were started at Satara in 1922 and at Wai in 1925. The Bhaskarrao Karve Adhyapak Vidyalaya was started in 1945. The Institution was renamed as Hingne Stree Shikshan Samsthain 1949. Consequently, a few more pre-primary, primary, secondary schools and junior colleges were established. The decade of 1990s proved to be remarkable as a milestone in the history of the Institution. Realizing the need of the times, the Institution stepped into the domain of higher education. Shri Siddhivinayak Mahila Mahavidyalaya came up in 1990, followed by Cummins College of Engineering for Women in 1991, Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture in 1994, and Hiraben Nanavati Institute of Management and Research in 1996 followed by Shri Manilal Nanavati Vocational Training Centre in 1995, School Of Fashion Technology in 1998 and the Bakul Tambat Institute of Nursing Education in 2000. All these colleges have a prominent and distinctive identity in their respective knowledge domains.
Currently, MKSSS has campuses all over Maharashtra, where more than 32,000 girl students are taking education at present. Over the period of last 125+ years, the Institution has grown manifold and it is running 64 educational units at present. These units are located at Pune, Satara, Wai, Ratnagiri, Nagpur & Kamshet and are exclusively for girls.
Even today, the girls and women from rural areas cannot get access to education due to factors such as poor financial condition, insecure atmosphere, non-availability of schools in the vicinity of their residence and many such reasons. Consequently, they are forced to live their life without education. MKSSS stood behind them as a strong support system. Many efficient, intelligent, determined and promising girls and women from rural areas are living a decent and respectable life, as Samstha has uplifted them by making them educated and by empowering them to become self-reliant.
Growth and Development of our students being our apex priority irrespective of all constraints, we are proud to state that we have lived up to our commitments and have maintained our goodwill. The blend of the great vision of Maharshi Karve and the hard work, dedication, determination and strategic approach of management and staff members at all levels has enabled us to carve a niche in the competitive scenario.