GENESIS OF DAV MOVEMENT
The Indian society was at its cultural, social and political nadir when Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was born in 1824. He grew up in an environment of political subjugation, where he witnessed extreme casteism, superstition, religious dogma and social oppression of women and marginalized sections of society.
He openly stood up against all the social evils such as discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, sex, economic status and social bigotry, male chauvinism and religious dominance of higher castes over the backward castes and classes. He fought for the rights of women and opened "Kanya Vidyalayas" to empower and enlighten them. Unfortunately, the task of social resurgence was too vast to be completed during his lifetime and when Maharishi attained Samadhi in 1883.
Taking a stock of the ground realities of Indian society and the nature of the task undertaken by Maharishi, his followers decided to commemorate his life and works not by building lifeless statues, but by opening temples of learning - schools and colleges where all the values advocated by Maharishi would be inculcated in the children so that they could carry forward his message and work ceaselessly to carry out the reforms suggested by him.
In 1885 the first DAV School was established at Lahore which was subsequently upgraded to become the first DAV College. In 1886 the DAV College Trust and Management Society was established and registered. The DAV Society visualized that the DAV Schools shall produce men and women of sterling national character and social commitment. Thus the crusade against ignorance, illiteracy, injustice and inequality was revived and it gained further momentum with the opening of each DAV School.
DAV College Managing Committee, the executive body of the DAV College Trust & Management Society, streamlined the school curriculum and administrative processes and gave the social movement a splendid vision and precise direction. It was their missionary consciousness that fostered the growth of many more institutions across the country and lead DAV to newer heights.