It was in 1885 that Shri A. P. D. Jain Pathashala was established in Sholapur by late Shri Hirachand Nemchand, the illustrious father of the well-known Walchand family. Charity is the breath of Indian Culture and it breathes profusely in the establishment and the activities of the Pathashala. It is perhaps the oldest and hence the first private educational endeavor in Sholapur. Diffusion of knowledge and culture is the ancient Indian tradition and Shri A. P. D. J. Pathashala is an embodiment thereof. It has been catering to the educational and cultural needs of Solapur for the last 137 years and more. It was intended to serve a double purpose: to give general education to the masses and at the same time to prepare men of caliber, culture and character. It has stood up to its ideals throughout these long years and has produced many a man that has made his mark on the life around him. Many of the members of the family of Walchand, the premier industrialists of India, have taken their first lessons on the premises of this Pathashala. The Pathashala is mainly a Jain activity but it is not meant for the Jains alone.
The Pathashala was originally named as “Jain Pathashala, Sholapur”. It was founded in the month of Phalgun of the year 1885 A.D., chiefly inspired by the band of two saintly souls: Lala Rakhhabdasji Agarwalla and Babu Dulichandji Jaipurwalla. In the year 1910 there came a great saint by the name Shri Aillak Pannalal Maharaj. He collected funds for the Pathashala and created a trust thereof. The Pathashala was therefore named after him. It is now known as “Shri Aillak Pannalal Digambar Jain Pathashala, Sholapur.”

Late Sheth Hirachand Nemchand, the founder of the Pathashala, was a great seer and social reformer. He rightly understood the spirit of knowledge and culture and strove hard throughout his life to give these to the people of Sholapur. Education is a sacred cause. It is a service to man and God alike. Knowledge is not only the power but it is bliss also. He left therefore no stone unturned to educate the people.

In the beginning, the Pathashala was started in a small rented house in the city. But due to the growing number of students, a separate building had to be built for the Pathashala. Accordingly, a spacious building was built in the year 1913 on a piece of land secured for the purpose on the out-skirts of the city near Bali Ves.

Shri Aillak Pannalal Digamber Jain Pathashala Trust, Solapur has adopted a secular, broad-based objective, “Education is Religion” (Shikshan Haach Dharma), which is being followed meticulously till date. Inspired by the visionary Param Pujya Gurudev, the institution of Shri Digamber Jain Gurukul Prashala was established in 1940. Bearing in mind the social considerations, the technical wing was established in 1961. It was unique in its kind which imparted technical education throughout the city. Two new high schools in 1961 were started viz. ‘Nutan Vidyalaya’ at Ashti in Solapur District and Deshbhushan Kulbhushan Vidyalaya’ at Kunthalgiri in Osmanabad District.

To fulfill the requirement of the trained teachers to widen the scope of education, a college offering Bachelor of Education namely, ‘Kasturbai College of Education, Solapur’ was started in the year 1970. Today this institute is offering UG, PG, & Doctoral programme with built-in assurance of quality of education to would-be Teachers which has been established 1988.

To cater to the growing needs of the society, the trust took a decision to enter in the field of higher education. The Sholapur College was established on the 20th June, 1962 and it was inaugurated by the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and then Home Minister of India, Shri Yashawantraoji Chavan on the 8th July, 1962. Due to the spontaneous and quick collection of money from the public and the Walchand Charitable Trusts, the buildings required for the starting of the College were erected within the shortest possible time at a cost of rupees two lakhs and more.

The Sholapur College was a composite College of Arts, Science and Commerce. The strength of the College in the very first year was 174 students. The Sholapur College was the third Arts and Science College which is designed to meet certain basic requirements of Higher Education and thus intended to fulfil definite national obligations. Strict discipline, personal attention and character building are the guiding principles of the College.

In 1972 Sholapur College, Solapur was renamed as Walchand College of Arts and Science, Solapur in the presence of Late Former Prime Minister Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In order to set a new blazing trail and to step into the unconventional fields of Social Education, the institution started Master of Social Work Post Graduate programme in 1970, which was the first of its kind and rare event in the field of education.

Hirachand Nemchand College of Commerce, Solapur (affiliated to Solapur University, Solapur) was established on 8th July 1972 with an aim to impart quality education and develop competent students ready to face challenges of the competitive world. BBA and BCA wings got established in the year 2003.

In 1972, when the Trust was passing through the financial crises, Late Shriman Seth Bhausaheb Gandhi took reins of the Trust as Hon. Secretary of S. A. P. D. J. Pathashala Trust, Solapur, under the guidance of Chairman Late Shriman Seth Lalchand Hirachand. Shriman Bhausaheb Gandhi devoted over three decades of his life to the overall development of the institutions run by the Trust. It is his foresight, managerial skills, efficient financial management, joyous work environment and devoted smart work which brought name and fame to all the institutions run by the Trust. Shriman Bhausaheb Gandhi always kept a pace with the time by the way of promoting various innovative programmes/courses in various streams of higher education in this region for producing employable citizens for the nation. The trust entered step by step into various streams of education under his leadership. The trust expanded quantitatively and qualitatively. Reforms in educational system brought about by him have always helped the trust to ensure quality of education & to remain the frontier of education-provider in this region. This has definitely put Solapur on the national map of education, since students from many states of India & from many districts of Maharashtra started coming to Solapur for fulfillment of their dreams through education.

The trust has always assured quality education to its stakeholders, through their accreditation. It is only their policy, plan and implementation, which have ensured a great success story and is still providing inspiration to the next generation to meet the global challenges. These visionary educationists, who lived with moral uprightness, still continue to inspire society as role models.

In the year 1975 a Junior College Wing was established in the Shri Digamber Jain Gurukul Prashala premises. An overall demand from the different strata of the society a pre-primary division was started in 2003 which was gradually extended with primary school in 2004.

The institute started a Two-Year full time M.B.A. post graduate course in the year 1981, leading to Master of Business Administration. The course is recognized by All India Council of Technical Education (A.I.C.T.E.), New Delhi. The Annual intake capacity is 120 students who come from every corner of the country to join the coveted course.

In 1983, the Government of Maharashtra made a policy and accordingly permitted the private institutions to open Engineering Colleges on ‘no-grant basis’. Under the leadership of Bhausaheb Gandhi, immediately the trust availed of this opportunity and started the engineering college namely “Walchand Institute of Technology, Solapur”, and fulfilled the long-standing demand of this region. Today, WIT, offers six U.G. Programmes, four P.G. Programmes & five Ph.D. programs. WIT is accredited by Industries and N.B.A, New Delhi. The Institute is awarded Grade ‘A’ by the Government of Maharashtra and NAAC has accredited the college with grade A+.

Bhausaheb Gandhi always used to bring equity, efficiency & effectiveness to bypass all the inefficient systems in the field of education. He had very well maintained the balance in expansion of the professional courses & conventional courses. In the unaided courses, he was always keen on keeping cost of education as low as possible without making any compromise over quality of education to make it affordable to all the stakeholders.

He influenced to make Research as an integral part of education. Our institutions receive grants for research & for modernization of laboratories from DST, AICTE and UGC. As a result of this, over 110 books have been published by the faculty members, which are widely accepted. And 850 Research publications in various national and international journals have been published during the last 5 years. Opportunities for career advancement and growth have kept faculty retention ratio over 90%.

Under his able leadership, the trust has been addressing numerous issues of social justice for upliftment of deprived sections of the society in many ways. The ‘Childline’ Project, of toll-free tele-helpline for street children in distress with 540 partner organizations across India, blood donation over 1500 bottles every year, socially active NSS and NCC units contributing to the social work and defense are some of the examples of the extensive work carried out under his leadership and inspiration. Various institutions of the trust are instrumental in many social surveys leading to feasible solutions on a variety of social issues.

After the sad demise of Shriman Bhausaheb Gandhi the trust still continues to work on his balanced perspective plan under the leadership of Chairman Shriman A. R. Doshi & Hon. Secretary Dr. Ranjeet Gandhi by starting full-time UG & PG programmes in Biotechnology from the academic year 2008-2009. Biotechnology is an emerging, revolutionary branch in Science with immense applied potential to keep in pace with the need of the society, the trust initiated a new academic venture Walchand Centre for Biotechnology (WCBT) in the Solapur city. WCBT is prepared to provide the foremost education and state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, training and research in vital areas of Biotechnology to set international standards and scope with the requirements of manpower in contemporary and future field of human endeavor. WCBT is dedicated to generate globally competitive human resource potential that can hunt the new horizons in the field of Agriculture, Bioinformatics, Health Sciences, Genetic Engineering and other Sciences. Another concern to initiate WCBT is to establish full-fledged Animal Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering laboratories which will provide an impetus in the field of Biotechnology.

As on date under the umbrella of Shri Aillak Pannalal Digamber Jain Pathashala Trust, many institutions are functioning in Solapur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra State. About 16000 students are pursuing their quality education in various streams of education. All the institutions run by the trust are recognized for excellent infrastructural facilities and quality education. The educational activity is spread over at various locations on a land admeasuring @ 40 acres.

At present, the trust is making all-around progress to meet the challenges of 21st century in the form of academic progress and excellent infrastructure to keep pace with globalization of education. The institution strives for the overall development of the students. It imparts quality education at the same time it makes them competent to face the challenges ahead. For this purpose, regularly placement activities are organized in the campus. The companies like TCS, Infosys, etc visit the institution regularly to seek the competent students.