The founder of the institution, late Padmabhushan Dr.Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil, was a man of the masses who devoted all his mind and heart to the cause of their education. He had an incisive understanding of the social ills that beset his times and fully realised the dire need of the spread of education. He believed that education alone could correct the social ills such as caste-hierarchy, money-lending, illiteracy, untouchables, superstitions and social and economic inequality.  All his life, he tried to translate this belief into reality. He was the prophet of the poor, the weak, the dispossessed and left no stone unturned for their upliftment. He was a great humanitarian who endeavored hard to educate the masses to bring a kindly light of hope in their lives of misery and ignorance. The Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, stands for, strives for and has accomplished to a great extent what the founder-father had in his mind. 
                    Padmabhushan Dr.Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil was born on Sept.22, 1887 at Kumbhoj, in the Kolhapur district . His native-place is Aitawade BK., Dist Sangli. He came from the tenacious Jain family but rejected its rigorous religious rites and fought all his life against the social ills that impeded the secularistic growth of society. During his school days, he came under the direct influence of the then king of Kolhapur, Rajarshi Chh.Shahu Maharaj who was a staunch advocate of social equality and great promoter of education for the backward communities of Maharashtra. Another great social reformer from whom he drew inspiration was Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. While working at Ogles, Kirloskars and Coopers, Bhaurao would save his time to devote him self to the activities of Satya-Shodhak Samaj.He would perform Satya Shodhaki Jalasas in the villages of Maharashtra and awaken the people to the dire consequences of the social evils of the time.He realised that the social ills could be remedied through the education of the masses alone and laid the foundation of the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha by opening a Boarding House at Kale (Tal-Karad, Dist-Satara) in 1919. Soon, however, in 1924 he shifted the head-quarters of his educational institution to Satara.             
                    It is a significant coincidence that Mahatma Gandhi's Freedom Movement and Bhaurao Patil's Mass-Education Movement started functioning at about the same time in the year 1920. Bhaurao first saw Gandhiji at a public meeting in Bombay, in 1921. He was stunned to see Gandhiji only in a loincloth at the huge rally. So deeply was he impressed that he resolved to wear khadi for the rest of his life. Mahatma Gandhi was struggling hard to attain the political freedom for the country. Karmaveer Padmabhushan Dr. Bhaurao was rebellious by temperament but revered freedom. He was uncertain as to whether political freedom or social reforms should receive prime concern, till the Kameri Satyagraha of 1930, but thereafter he devoted himself fully to the cause of mass education.