Desmond gave up his position as a professor at St. Xavier College, Mumbai and opted to work in the field of education in the rural areas. He first worked with groups of adults creating awareness of the situation along with giving them literacy in the non-formal method of Paulo Freire. This experience made him realize that while concentrating on working with grownups we were losing a whole generation of children.

In 1995 Desmond D’Abreo was invited to the USA as a Fulbright Scholar in Residence. He was appointed as professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota. Here he taught courses on Gandhian Philosophy of Education, Women and environment and Dalit and tribal movements in India comparing it to Afro-American struggle in the US. He created a course on Ethics of International Aid. He was also called to other Colleges to lecture on the same subjects and share his experiences. At the end of the academic year when his assignment as Fulbright Scholar in Residence was done he was invited by many other universities in the States to work with them. His answer was a definite “NO”. He emphatically said “ There is so much work in my own country with my own people” and returned to India to get more involved in the project he had started with Value Oriented Education ( Val-or-Ed).