No proposal to revive MP quota for admissions in Kendriya Vidyalayas: Education Ministry

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Education on Monday ruled out any proposal to revive the quota for Members of Parliament for admission in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) across the country. Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi said this in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha.

"There is no such proposal, at present, to revive the quota for Members of Parliament for admission in Kendriya Vidyalayas. KVs are opened primarily to cater to the educational needs of the wards of transferable central government employees including defence and para-military personnel, Central Autonomous Bodies, Central Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Central Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) by providing a common programme of education throughout the country.

"There is no such proposal under consideration since the admission under some special provisions including Members of Parliament's quota were granted over and above sanctioned strength of the student strength of 40 per section which was adversely affecting learning due to high pupil teacher ratio in classes," she added.

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The centre government had last year scrapped several discretionary quotas, including that of MPs, for admissions in the Kendriya Vidyalayas, a decision which was aimed at freeing over 40,000 seats in the centrally funded schools. There are over 1,200 KVs in the country with over 14.35 lakh students.

The MPs — 543 in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha — could collectively recommend up to 7,880 admissions a year under the quota. Under special provisions, MPs had discretionary powers to recommend the admission of 10 children to a Kendriya Vidyalaya. Even a district magistrate had the power to recommend 17 students under the sponsoring authority quota in KVs.