AREDS - Association of Rural Education and Development Service was founded in the year 1980, guided continuously by the conviction that "Education should precede development, and development should be achieved by collective and conscious numbers".

It believes that "Small People with conscious and collective numbers can create another world of Peace, Justice and Equality for all" and Education and Organisation is the strategy and conviction to reach the vision: Towards One Humanity. AREDS is a grassroots organisation working for the development of rural poor especially women, Dalits and children in Karur District of Tamil Nadu.