Vidya Vikas Mandal was established on August 1, 1971 by a few enlightened young professionals, who fully appreciated the importance and value of a good education. At the time, there were no facilities for Commerce education in South Goa, and several students were travelling either to North Goa or to Belgaum, Pune or Mumbai to study for the B.Com degree. To bridge the huge demand-supply gap, the Mandal started a Commerce College in rented premises at Borda, Margao in 1973.
Today the Society manages five reputed institutions, viz. Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics, R. M. Salgaocar Higher Secondary School, G. R. Kare College of Law, H.M.N. Gaunekar Institute of Management Training and Research and Vidya Vikas Academy. The first IGNOU study centre to be set up in the State of Goa is attached to Shree Damodar College and serves people from South Goa as well as the bordering areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Vidya Vikas Mandal has been serving the student community of South Goa for close on 50 years and is widely recognized and acknowledged as a charitable Society dedicated to the promotion of education of the highest quality.
In the early years, all the institutions were scattered in different parts of Margao city. Gradually, however, the Mandal created an educational campus at Tansor, Comba, and all five institutions are now located here. The campus was built on land donated by Shree Damodar Saunsthan, Zambaulim and thereafter on additional land acquired with the help of the Government of Goa. The campus, known as Shree Damodar Educational Campus, is an educational hub, providing education from the pre-primary right up to the doctoral stage, accommodating close to 5000 students and 400 teaching and non-teaching staff.
The Mandal has provided its institutions with the finest infrastructure, and this is constantly being augmented to meet their ever-increasing needs. Most recently, the Mandal has added a playground, and built a Ground + 4 floors Central block for Shree Damodar College.
Over the last 7-8 years, VVM has invested heavily in ICT, which has helped all institutions keep pace with emerging trends of knowledge delivery.
Vidya Vikas Mandal believes in holistic education and all-round development of students’ personalities; accordingly all the institutions ensure that while their primary focus is on providing quality academic education, they also encourage students to participate in sports, music, dance, drama, literary activities, photography, extension activities, NCC and several new and emerging areas.Academic Excellence,Creativity, Nurturing of Talent and Innovation, – these will be at the core of all the Mandal’s initiatives.
Vidya Vikas Mandal has completed 50 years of service to the cause of education in Goa. over these five decades, VVM has been fortunate to have been led by personalities of competence and vision. Adv. H. M. Naik Gaunekar was the Founder President (1971-75). He was followed by Shri Pandurang Timblo (1975-79), Shri Ramnath G. Kare (1979-2014), CA Ganesh Daivajna (2014-17) and CA. Smt. Sheela H. N. Gaunekar (2017-20). I must make special mention of former President Shri Ramnath G. Kare, under whose visionary leadership the Mandal grew in size, visibility and stature.
The mantle of leadership has now passed to me and I am very proud to state that I am a VVM alumnus, having graduated from Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics some years ago. As President, my dream is to make the Mandal a futuristic, forward-looking institution rooted in traditional, old-world values. I strongly believe that the future is faster than we think – and it is our responsibility as an educational Society, to equip our youth accordingly. The changing demographics, a world where technology is growing at an explosive pace, the emergence of new careers almost every other day – the Mandal is seized of these issues and is working towards solutions. Riding on the back of technology, we will offer world-class education and prepare responsible and productive global citizens.
Shree Damodar College is my alma mater and very close to my heart. The College offers programmes in Commerce, Management, Finance and Computer Applications. All these are areas that are poised to grow exponentially in the near future. The world order is being transformed almost on a daily basis and the COVID pandemic has catalyzed the process of change. Commerce and Management education should now reposition itself to focus on Smart Commerce and Smart Management – this is the future, indeed the present – and it is our responsibility as educators to equip our students for this through the B.Com, M.Com and BBA programmes. ICT is the driver of all the change that we are witnessing today and it is set to become even more ubiquitous and pervasive in all spheres of our lives. The Department of Computer Science should ensure that our BCA and B.Voc. students are ready for this world of opportunity when they graduate. Similarly, Finance permeates all aspects of business and our working and personal lives. The BBA(FS) students again have tremendous opportunities, particularly as self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs, especially with Fintech growing so rapidly.
I consider myself fortunate, that during my tenure as President, I have the benefit of invaluable advice, guidance and support of stalwarts such as Founder Members – Hon. Treasurer CA. U. N. Bene, Immediate Past President CA. Sheela H. N. Gaunekar and CA. Ganesh M. Daivajna, and Hon. Secretary Shri Madhukar R. Mallya. The two Vice-Presidents, Adv. Pritam Morais and Shri Vinayak G. Angle complete the Core Committee and are a great source of strength for the Mandal. With the unstinting encouragement and cooperation from other members of the Board and the Principals of all the institutions, I have no doubt that we will be able to realize our dream of providing the best education experience to all our students and their parents.
“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow”
John Dewey
Mr. Nitin A. Kunkolienker
President
Vidya Vikas Mandal
