NEW DELHI: The center has scrapped several discretionary quotas, including the Members of Parliament (MPs) quota, for admissions to the 1,248 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country, according to the new guidelines issued by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).
For the first time, children of Kashmiri migrants and children who lost parents due to Covid, under the PM CARES for Children Scheme, will get admission. The orphaned children won’t have to pay fees. Also 15 children of the employees of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and 50 of Central Police Organisations can get admissions now.
Rajya Sabha MP and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who had raised the issue in Parliament and had demanded that the 7,880 MP quota seats in KVS be scrapped, welcomed the move. Each MP can recommend ten children.
“I welcome this move. In a democracy, there should not be any discretion because there is no transparency, and which leads to corruption,” he told this newspaper, which was the first one to report that the KVS had directed its schools to “put on hold” 17 special provisions on April 12.
Modi, however, suggested that as there is a considerable demand for KV admissions, the education ministry should open more sections and, wherever possible, start two shifts.
“It is a bold move because MPs were involved. This quota was not based on merit or reservation. Due to this, nearly 8,000 seats were getting blocked. Some MPs had asked for increasing the quota, but even if it were done, it would not have been enough as the demand is so high," he added.
However, Congress leader and MP for Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu, Karti P Chidambaram, tweeted, “This is outrageous, taking away whatever little discretionary intervention tools an MP had.”
Apart from the MP quota, the KVS has also removed other quotas, including 100 children of education ministry employees, children and dependent grandchildren of MPs and retired KV employees, and the discretionary allocation of the school management committee chairman.
The admissions made under special conditions are over and above the designated class strength and applied from class 1 to IX, officials said.
The admissions for the 2022-23 academic session are underway till June. There are 1435562 KV students.
A KVS official, on condition of anonymity, told this newspaper that the “review was done because the discretionary quotas were disturbing the approved student’s strength.”
“It was seen that in one class there were 70 students. This affected the quality of education and also disturbed the pupil-teacher ratio.”
Moreover, he said, the quotas distort the overall percentage of SC/ST/OBC reservations in the schools.
He said keeping all this in mind; the education ministry decided to discontinue the discretionary quotas.
What’s scrapped?
Ministry of Education – 100 seats
KVS retired official’s grandchildren seats – over and above the designated class strength
MP quota – total MPs of LS (543) and RS (245) = 788 – Total 7,880 admissions per year
Children and dependent grandchildren of MPs – over and above the designated class strength
Sponsoring agency – 5 admission per section in class 1 per school and ten seats in other classes from class 2 to 12
Vidyalaya Chairman - two seats per school
Land sponsoring authority - Delhi Development Authority - 5 seats per section in class I and five seats in all other classes
What stays?
Directorate of education of Armed Forces can recommend a maximum of six names, except in X and XII
Children of serving KVS children
Children of MEA employees
Children of central government employees and also who die in harness
Children of recipients of Paramveer Chakra, Mahavir Chakra, Veer Chakra, Ashok Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Shourya Chakra, Sena Medal (Army), Nausena Medal (Navy), Vayu Sena Medal (Air Force)
Children of recipients of President’s Police medal for gallantry and Police medal for gallantry
Meritorious sports children/Fine arts
Recipients of Rashtrapati Puraskar in Scouts and Guides
Single girl children (including twin girl child too) in class I and from class VI onwards
What’s new?
Kashmiri migrants
COVID orphans - no fees to be paid
Ministry of Home Affairs employees - RAW and Central Police Organisations