Kanara Welfare Trust, established in 1953 by Dr. Dinakar Desai, is indeed an institution with a difference. Being rooted in the rural background of Uttara Kannada District, it has to balance the aspirations of the rural people and the modern requirements. Education is no more and it should not be any more a mere acquisition of knowledge for eking out a livelihood. It has a deeper meaning and a loftier purpose. The formal curriculum prescribed needs to be blended with methods of arousing latent potentialities in the child, enabling it to realise its own strength. The wholesome development of the personality of a child leading it to higher levels of understanding should be the purpose of education.
Today, India needs to be imbued with a new dynamism which calls for young men and women to shed off the shackles of small ideas, small means, small pleasures and small aims and be motivated to think and achieve higher goals in every walk of life. Education is the instrument through which alone, this purpose could be achieved. This has been the motto of Kanara Welfare Trust.
Gokhale Centenary College, Ankola, established in 1966 is a Government aided and UGC recognized institution, specifically devoted to the enlightenment and empowerment of the youth of Ankola and nearby areas. It is the flagship Institution of Kanara Welfare Trust.