Under pressure from the parents who resisted steep increase in the fees, the management of the Rashtriya Anusandhan Vidhyalaya (RAV) school here has decided to roll back the hike by 80 percent.
At the start of this academic session, the school running under the aegis of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) had raised the fees by 125 percent. The parents of the students resisted the fees increase by forming an association and holding demonstration at the school, office of Chief Education Officer (CEO) and District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun.
The parents association also knocked the door of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on the issue. In April a delegation of the parents even met Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi and complained about steep increase of fees. The efforts of the parents finally yielded result when the DRDO asked the school management to roll back the excessive fee increase. In a letter directed to the CEO, S P Khali the member secretary of Defence Research Education Society (DRES),
lM Pant informed that under direction from DRDO the fee increase is revised. He informed that the monthly fees of Primary students would now be Rs1,180 instead of Rs1,475, similarly the fees of middle classes is revised from Rs1,900 to Rs1,520 and the fees of Secondary students is curtailed from Rs2,200 to Rs1,700. The students of the senior secondary classes would have to pay a fee of Rs1,940 per month instead of Rs2,425.
A beaming president of AUPA, Neeraj Sinhghal termed the roll back in fees hike as a victory for the parents. He informed that a meeting of the association of was organised on Friday in which the parents of the students of the school participated and they expressed happiness that their grievance is readdressed.
Singhal said president of the Parents association of the school, Pankaj Sharma has received a letter from the CEO Khali in which he has informed about the decision of DRDO about fee rollback. He said that the whole episode reflects that if the parents become united and make a determined effort against the authoritative and often dictatorial attitude of the school authorities then they can have their say in the affairs of the school.