Vivekananda Vidyavardhaka Sangha Puttur® (VVS Puttur) (Formerly known as Puttur Education Society) Puttur, was founded on 23^rd December 1915. For the past ninety years, the Sangha  has been the forerunner in the field of Education in the coastal region of Karnataka. It is committed to impart quality education by maintaining high standards of  discipline, sense of duty and moral values among its students, and to inculcate faith and pride in Indian culture and tradition.

The Puttur Education Society was founded by great visionaries like Molahalli Shiva Rao, Baindoor Rama Rao, Dramastala Chandayya Hegde, Rao Bahaddur Raghunatha Rao, and a host of  others who succeeded in establishing the first Secondary School in 1916 in Puttur-which is now well known as Govt. Pre University College, Kombettu, Puttur. The invaluable contributions of stalwarts like Baindoor Prabhakar Rao- the leading light of the co-operative movement in South Kanara,  Jnanapeeta award winner Dr. Kota Shivarama Karanth, and Sri K. Rama Bhat, Ex-MLA - a leading lawyer and also a social activist, raised the Society to greater heights. 

The establishment of Vivekananda College of Arts, Science and Commerce in the year 1965 was a milestone in the history of the Sangha. The first step of channelising technical education into Puttur was in the form of establishing Vivekananda Polytechnic in the year 1986, which subsequently crystallised in the form of Vivekananda College of Engineering & Technology, and founded in 2001. In 2007, Vivekananda School of Business Management (MBA) was started. Today, VVS is running more than 24 institutes which range from Kindergartens to High Schools, from conventional Degree Colleges to Teacher Training Programmes and from Law to Technical Institutions. Named after the great Saint Swami Vivekananda, the Sangha is striving  hard to inculcate in the students a sense of pride in the great heritage of the country and patriotism. The Sangha also provides free mid-day meals to the economically poor students; most of them come from backward areas of the district.

All the institutes established by VVS, irrespective of its nature and size, have become centres of excellence. VVS aims at moulding character and inculcating high sense of discipline among its students and staff. The functioning of the VVS is totally transparent and democratic in nature. Each institute is managed by a Governing Council comprising of representatives elected from amongst its members at various levels of management.

Since most of the institutions run by VVS Puttur do not come under the Grant in Aid Scheme of the government, VVS solicits generous donations from the public, well wishers, philanthropists, parents, alumni and others for the noble cause of providing quality education to youth and making it affordable to all sections of the society.