Explained: Why has the government scrapped the MP quota for Kendriya Vidyalaya?
Currently, with 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya Sabha, 7,880 admissions to KVs were possible against this quota every year
The Centre has scrapped the MP quota for admissions in Kendriya Vidyalayas. PTI
The long-debated MP quota for admissions in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) has been scrapped, according to the admission guidelines for 2022-23 and beyond.
The Union government has scrapped the quota through which Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs could recommend a limited number of students to be admitted in KVs.
The government has also removed the “special provisions” for granting admissions to children of education ministry employees, children and dependent grandchildren of MPs and serving or retired KV employees, discretionary quota of school management committee chairman among others.
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What are Kendriya Vidyalayas?
Kendriya Vidyalayas were established in 1963 on the recommendation of the Second Central Pay Commission as ‘Central Schools’.
The schools, administered and run by the Ministry of Education (MoE), were started for the children of Central government employees, including Defence and paramilitary personnel.
The aim was to ensure that the education of the children of Central government employees does not get hampered because of frequent transfer of their parents.
Apart from giving a child the flexibility to transfer from one school to another, the KVs are also coveted for their subsidised quality education and an excellent academic track record.
What is the MP quota?
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), the autonomous body under MoE that manages the schools, introduced a special scheme in 1975.
It allowed a fixed number of seats to each member of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Each MP in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can refer a number of students for admission in KVs from Class 1 to 9 against this quota. As per a requisite, the parents of the children have to belong to the MP’s constituency.
The MP quota has long been a topic of discussion in the Parliament, including being discontinued at least on two occasions.
The MP quota has also increased over the years. From maximum two admissions in an academic year, it was increased to five in 2011, six in 2012, and 10 in 2016.
Currently, with 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya Sabha, 7,880 admissions are possible against this quota every year.
The KVS had also introduced a separate “discretionary” quota allowed to the Education Minister, who can recommend 450 students for admission in each academic year.
The discretionary quota was abolished by education minister Dharmendra Pradhan last year.
Why has the government scrapped it?
The quotas have in a way created an anomaly in the KVS system as the seats against the quotas are above the already sanctioned seat strength across all the Kendriya Vidyalayas.
Since MPs and Ministers receive several requests per year, the number of students admitted to KVs has often breached the sanctioned strength.
According to the Indian Express, in 2018-19, 8,164 students were admitted against the sanctioned strength of 7,880 and 9,402 students were taken in against the Education Minister’s quota of 450.
It has long been argued that the excess admissions skew the student-teacher ratio and impact the overall education quality in KVs.
Even though the MP quota was scrapped in 1997 and then 2010, it was re-established both times due to political pressure.
The then-HRD minister Kapil Sibal had suspended both the quotas in 2010, but given to political pressure he reinstated the MP quota and even increased its size in 2011 and 2012.
However, the Education Minister’s quota remained abolished until Smriti Irani took charge as the HRD Minister. The NDA government also increased the size of the MP quota from six to ten admissions each year in 2016.
With inputs from agencies
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