The Early Years

The Mandal was registered on August 1, 1971, a date chosen to coincide with the death anniversary of freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who had been an eminent educationist. However, despite the best efforts of Adv. H. M. N. Gaunekar, the Founder President and the 50 founder members, the College could not begin in 1972. Nevertheless they persevered, and their never-say-die attitude soon paid off.
In the very next year, June 1973, Vidya Vikas Mandal’s College of Commerce started functioning out of Gomes Building – an old rented house in Borda, Margao

Shri Pandurang Timblo, of the Timblo industrial house from Margao, took over the mantle of leadership from Adv. H. M. N. Gaunekar in 1975 and presided over the activities of the Mandal until 1979. These were years of consolidation and strengthening of the College and the Mandal.

The Growth Phase

In 1979, the Board of Management elected a new President from among its founder members – Shri Ramnath G. Kare, yet another noted industrialist from Margao. This proved to be another watershed in the history of the Mandal. Under Shri R. G. Kare’s visionary leadership, more institutions emerged and matured under the Vidya Vikas Mandal umbrella. The first among these was the Govind Ramnath Kare College of Law in 1979, the only College of Law in South Goa.

The H. M. Naik Gaunekar Institute of Management Training & Research was launched in 1981 with the laudable objective of accommodating the desire of working people to obtain managerial qualifications and also to impart in-service training to officer cadres of the Government.
In 1986, the Higher Secondary Section of Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics was hived off to create an independent institution – the Ramacrisna Madeva Salgaocar Higher Secondary School, possible because of a munificent donation from the family of Shri Ramacrisna Madeva Salgaocar.

When Indira Gandhi National Open University decided to locate a Study Centre in Goa in 1987, Shree Damodar College of Commerce & Economics was a natural choice, a pointer to the reputation that the Mandal and the College had built up in the short span of less than fifteen years.
The year 1994 marked yet another defining moment in the history of Vidya Vikas Mandal – it made a successful foray into school education, setting up the Vidya Vikas Academy, a CBSE school, which has grown by giant leaps and bounds in a span of 20 years. In the year 2012, it added another feather to its cap by starting Vidya Vikas Academy CBSE – Senior Secondary wing.