Maharashtra Education Society turns 160 this year

MES Abasaheb Garware College, Bhave High School and Renuka Swaroop Girls High School are some of its prominent educational institutes in Pune

Pune The Maharashtra Education Society (MES) will celebrate its 160th anniversary on November 19.

Bhave High School, an educational institute of the MES. In 1874, The Poona Native Institution (formerly known as) was formed, as a result of their joint efforts, to impart conventional contemporary education that would nurture nationalism and strong moral values among the Indian youngsters (HT PHOTO)

MES, a private education institution, offers education to urban and rural students from various areas of Maharashtra. MES Abasaheb Garware College, Bhave High School and Renuka Swaroop Girls High School are some of its prominent educational institutes in Pune.

Presently the president of MES is Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (retd). Talking about the 160th anniversary, Gokhale said, “It has been an amazing journey so far. The society was started in the pre-Independence era and one of its founders was freedom fighter Vasudev Balwant Phadake. It was founded just after the 1857 struggle for independence to give education to our people. The vision was very clear — to give value system of our country. Initially it was only schools, but over time it has grown tremendously. So, we are now working on different verticals to expand the education field in our state.”

In 1860, three veteran visionary educationists, freedom fighters Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Vaman Prabhakar Bhave and Laxman Narhar Indapurkar came together to establish the educational institute. In 1874, The Poona Native Institution (formerly known as) was formed, as a result of their joint efforts, to impart conventional contemporary education that would nurture nationalism and strong moral values among the Indian youngsters. Taking its mission forward in 1922, the institute reconstructed its vision by becoming Maharashtra Education Society.

Talking about the future extension plans, Gokhale said, “Today we are present in six districts of Maharashtra with various new courses and programmes for students. Idea is not to just increase the number of institutes, but ensure to give quality education, so that is our focus. We are now coming up with new vocational courses, innovation programmes and we believe that innovation is key to the future. Also, we are now starting some unique courses like Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education.”