What is KESST?

Kodagu Educational & Social Service Trust, KESST, was formed mainly to provide support to underprivileged families in Kodagu to educate their children. The families who need help belong to every community living in Kodagu, including the seemingly well-to-do Kodava community.

We place a special emphasis on particularly vulnerable groups, such as destitute families with single mothers, families with girl children, and orphans.

Our objective is to help these children achieve their full potential and grow up to lead a life of dignity.


Who we are

We are a group of socially committed citizens who came together when we realized that a large number of children in Kodagu were being withdrawn from school because their parents could not pay for their education. This we felt was a denial of personal growth, and opportunity, for the children.

On closer study we could estimate that the number of such affected children in the District would be around 4000, studying in 90 private schools, and in 70 government-aided schools.

Starting in the year 2010, we started helping these families with our own personal resources, paying for their school fees, books, uniforms, and transport to and from school. As our activities grew, we understood that we would no longer be able to meet the needs of these students with our own resources and that we have to reach out to a larger number of people to help these students.

Some of us, the trust members of KESST are located in Bangalore and some live in Kodagu. By reaching out to our network of friends and relatives we were able to continue the good work. But now, increasingly, we find that we have to look at a larger canvas and gather more funds, as the need is larger than our efforts have been able to fulfill.


Money well spent

You can help underprivileged children and families in difficulty, with the confidence that your money is being put to good use.

We are a voluntary (unpaid) group of citizens, the lean organizational structure at KESST ensures that 10%, or less, of your contribution goes towards administrative costs. The rest is actually working where it is needed most, in classrooms and in the homes of those in difficulty.


The KESST Tenets

The Tenets we follow at KESST while in pursuit of our stated goals:

K - Keep administrative costs at a minimum, when possible at zero

E - Ensure the dignity and self-respect of the recipients

S - Scrupulous transparency in functioning - make all accounts public

S - Sacred and complete integrity in all functioning

T – (Zero) Tolerance for unethical conduct within the Trust


Contact for information/clarifications (Trustees)