Centre scraps MP quota in Kendriya Vidyalayas, revises admission guidelines

The Union government has scrapped the discretionary Member of Parliament (MP) quota for admissions to the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), according to the revised admission guidelines issued by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) on Monday.

The move comes days after KVS had put admissions under ‘special provisions’, including MP quota, on hold till further orders.

Under KVS Special Dispensation Admission Scheme or MP quota, which was introduced in 1975, a parliamentarian could recommend a maximum of 10 students from their respective constituencies every academic year for admission in classes 1 to 9. With 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya Sabha, a total of 7,880 admissions every year were possible against this quota across 1,248 KVs in India. At least 1.43 million students are currently studying in KVs across the country.

There had been a long-pending demand from MPs to either increase the limit or do away with the discretionary quota.

According to the revised guidelines issued by the KVS — an autonomous body under the Union ministry of education — several amendments have been made under the ‘special provisions’ section of the admission policy. The Centre has also scrapped some of the other quotas, including that of 100 children of education ministry employees, children and dependent grandchildren of MPs and retired KV employees, and the discretionary quota of school management committee chairman, who, in most cases, is the district magistrate.

The admissions made under the special provisions are over and above the designated class strength.

Over the years, excessive admissions were taking place under the MP quota due to large number of requests, said a senior KVS official.

“The excessive admissions had become a major challenge due to limited infrastructure. It was also distorting the teacher-student ratio in KVs. Therefore, it has been decided to do away with the MP quota along with some other quotas under the special provisions section of the admission,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Principal of one of the KVs in NCR also shared similar sentiments. “Since the admissions were over and above the sanctioned strength, it was causing a lot of issues. For instance, if our class strength was 45, we were having seven to 10 additional students due to multiple quotas. It was causing an accommodation problem for schools. Classes were always overcrowded,” he said, also wishing not to be named.

In the recently concluded Budget Session of parliament, several MPs, including senior Congress leader Manish Tewari and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sushil Kumar Modi, had demanded that the MP quota to KV admissions be either scrapped or its limit be increased.

Reacting to the development, Tewari said, “When I became an MP in 2019, I couldn’t find 10 people to fill up my KV quota. The economic distress that has been induced in the economy, even pre-Covid by the policies of this government, today, I have 8,563 requests for 10 KV seats and that’s why I had requested for the quota to be a respectable number or scrapped. Since they scrapped, the blood is on their hands.”

Meanwhile, some new provisions have been added in the revised admission guidelines. They include 50 seats for the wards of group B and C central police organisations such as CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF, NDRF, and Assam Rifles based on a list provided by the ministry of home affairs. The Centre has also decided that children orphaned due to Covid-19 will be considered for admission under PM CARES for Children Scheme.

According to the revised guidelines, 60 admissions in KVs located anywhere in the country can be utilised exclusively for children returning from abroad along with their parents after their posting in current or previous years, and they would be considered for admission up to November 30.

Interestingly, the MP quota was once scrapped in 1997, but it was reinstated within a year. It was again suspended briefly in 2010 under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II government.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also in favour of doing away with some of the quotas in KV admissions, including the MP quota, officials at the ministry said.

Soon after Pradhan took charge last year, the government scrapped the Union education minister’s discretionary quota for admissions in KVs. On March 21, Pradhan urged the Lok Sabha to collectively debate and decide whether the MP quota in KVs should continue.