A delegation of All Uttarakhand Parents Association (AUPA) met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at New Delhi on Monday and complained about the steep hike in the fees by the authorities of Raksha Anusandhan Vidhyalaya (RAV) Dehradun. The delegation was led by the President of AUPA, Niraj Singhal.
The association of parents informed the minister that RAV Dehradun is running under the aegis of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and the school management has raised the fees by 125 percent for the academic session 2016-17.
In the memorandum which was handed over to the Defence minister, the AUPA said that the school has two types of students, those of DRDO employees and of villagers. The delegation said that the parents employed in DRDO are not affected by the fees hike as the fees is refunded by the Government organisation but the villagers are severely affected by the hike in fees.
The AUPA said that DRDO employees have to pay fees of Rs 1300 per month while others have to shell out a higher sum of Rs 1900 per month. The delegation handed over fees charts of the school for the year 2016-17 and 2015-15 as evidence of its charge.
The President of the association said that the AUPA demanded that there should be parity in the fees of wards of DRDO employees and common people and the steep hike in fees should be rolled back immediately. He said that the Defence Minister assured the delegation that their demand would be looked into and any decision would be taken within next 15 days.
It is worth mentioning here that the parents association has knocked at the doors of District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun and Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in this matter.