Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha (MKSSS) was established in 1896
by the great visionary and social reformer Bharat Ratna MaharshiDhondoKeshavKarve, 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 arecomplementary to each other.”
In the beginning, he started the
“Anath Balika shram”, with an objective to provide education to child widows. The
AnathBalikashram 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 HingneStreeShikshanSamsthain 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. ShriSiddhivinayakMahilaMahavidyalaya came up in
1990, followed by Cummins College of Engineering for Women in 1991,
Dr.BhanubenNanavati College of Architecture in 1994, and HirabenNanavati
Institute of Management and Research in 1996 followed by ShriManilalNanavati
Vocational Training Centre in 1995, School Of Fashion Technology in 1998 and
the BakulTambat 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 MaharshiKarve 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.