NEW DELHI: Children of Kashmiri migrants and children who have lost parents due to Covid-19 (under the PM CARES for Children Scheme) will get admissions in the 1,248 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country, according to new guidelines issued by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).
Under new guidelines, several discretionary admission quotas, including those belonging to MPs, have been scrapped. Officials said children who have lost their parents to Covid-19 won’t have to pay fees. According to government data, over 4,000 children have been listed under this scheme.
Under new guidelines, 15 children of employees of the Research and Analysis Wing and 50 of Central Police Organisations can get admission. Rajya Sabha MP and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who had said that the 7,880 MP quota seats be scrapped, welcomed the move.
“In a democracy, there should be no discrimination. If there there is no transparency, it will lead to corruption,” he told this newspaper, which was the first to report on April 12 that the KVS had directed schools to “put on hold” 17 special provisions.
“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,” Modi added. However, Congress leader and MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted, “This is outrageous, taking away whatever little discretionary intervention tools an MP had.” Each MP could recommend 10 children.
A KVS official, on condition of anonymity, said that the review was done because the quotas were disturbing the approved student strength per class. “It was seen that in one class, there were 70 students. This affected the quality of education and disturbed the pupil-teacher ratio.” There are 14,35,562 KV students.
Apart from MP quota, other quotas removed include those for education ministry employees, children and dependent grandchildren of MPs and retired KV employees.
What’s scrapped
Ministry of education: 100 seats
Seats for retired KV officials' grandchildren
MP quota: 7,880 admissions per year
Children and dependent grandchildren of MPs
Sponsoring agency: 5 admission per section in Class I per school & 10 seats from Class II to XII
Vidyalaya chairman: 2 seats per school
Land sponsoring authority: 5 seats per section in Class I and 5 seats in other classes
What’s new
Children of Kashmiri migrants
COVID orphans (no fees)
Children of home ministry employees, RAW & Central police organisations