The state committee of the Kendriya Vidyalayas Parents’ Association (KVPA), an organisation formed recently, has alleged that the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan management is violating the basic principles of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act and is charging exorbitant fees from the students. Prakash Kesavan, state president of the KVPA, said that the authorities are charging money in the name ‘vidyalaya vikas nidhi’ ‘computer fund’ etc, which is putting undue pressure on the students.
“The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resources Development is responsible for the management of the Kendriya Vidyalayas. This body is supposed to be the role model for the entire school system. But they are exploiting students by charging compulsory fee under arbitrary heads. The Orissa High Court had pointed out four years ago that this practice is unconstitutional. The authorities have increased the fee by 103 per cent within this academic year,” Kesavan pointed out.
P K Muhammad Basheer, state committee member of the KVPA, said a single bench of the Kerala High Court had stayed the fee hike. “But the authorities have approached the division bench with an appeal. This shows that the authorities are adamant to extract money from the students. The massive hike in fee by the Central schools has also given the green signal to unaided schools to extract exorbitant sums from students,” Basheer said.