Anxious over the fee hike and soaring Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (VVN) contribution, parents of students in Kendriya Vidyalaya institutions in the State are planning to approach the Supreme Court soon seeking a rollback.
The move comes after a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court recently turned down an appeal by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Parents Association to quash the increase in the computer fund and VVN contribution collected from students monthly.
According to the association, about 78,000 students are enrolled in 37 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools under the Ernakulam region, which includes institutions in Lakshadweep and Mahe.
Now the parents hope to raise the issues under the Right to Education (RTE) Act while seeking the intervention of the apex court in the case.
Computer fund“The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan had hiked the computer fund from Rs.50 a month to Rs.100 and VVN contribution from Rs.240 to Rs.500 monthly through a letter issued last year. The increase defeats the very purpose of the RTE Act while causing huge financial burden on the parents,” said George Felix Antony C.A., secretary of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Parents Association.
In its letter, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan had mentioned that the intention of collecting VVN was to create a corpus fund at the regional office/headquarters level for infrastructural requirements of the Sanghatan.
Mr. George said that this amounts to collection of fee from the students studying in Kendriya Vidyalayas for creating assets for the Government of India. “How can we justify the use of VVN fund collected from students for providing interest-free loans to teachers for buying laptops?” he asked.
The parents pointed out that the Supreme Court had stressed on providing free education to the children belonging to the age group of six to 14 years while making observations on Article 21 and 21 A in various cases.
