The government has decided to put on hold the MPs’ discretionary quota in recommending the admission of students to Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Several parliamentarians had demanded that the quota be done away with as it was angering parents and relatives of students missing out and thereby hurting the prospects of the politicians in elections.

The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan headquarters has issued a letter to all its schools, saying: “No admission should be done under Special Provisions till further order.”

Each Lok Sabha member is entitled to recommend the admission of 10 students to Kendriya Vidyalayas in his or her constituency. Each Rajya Sabha member can recommend the admission of 10 students to Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state he or she represents. There are no criteria and admission recommendations are based purely on an MP’s discretion.

There are about 1,250 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country with a capacity to admit about one lakh students in Class I every year. The MPs’ quota is over and above the sanctioned strength.

The education ministry is examining the possibility of discontinuing the quota, whose abolition several BJP leaders have sought.

The BJP leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sushil Kumar Modi, has been consistently raising the issue, arguing that the provision of discretionary quota for MPs has become a source of discontent among people and a reason for leaders losing elections.

“MPs are getting 1,000 to 2,000 applications each from parents for admission of their wards. Each MP can nominate a maximum of 10 students. Parents get upset when their expectations are not fulfilled. It is becoming a reason for MPs losing elections,” Sushil Modi told the Rajya Sabha on December 9, 2021.

“In my view, the quota should be abolished. The seats should be given on merit,” he said.

The education minister has a discretionary quota to recommend the admission of 450 children every year to Kendriya Vidyalayas. But Ramesh Pokhriyal as education minister had sent around 10,000 students each in 2019-20 and 2020-21. After Dharmendra Pradhan became minister, he did not utilise the quota in 2021-22.

Some parliamentarians such as the BJP’s Roopa Ganguly have demanded an increase in the quota.

Before 2010, each MP was allowed to nominate two children and the human resource development minister 1,200 students to Kendriya Vidyalayas every year. When Kapil Sibal was HRD minister, both quotas were discontinued. Following protests by MPs, the quota for parliamentarians was restored, but not that of ministers.

After the NDA came to power in 2014, then HRD minister Smriti Irani reintroduced the ministers’ quota but capped it at 450 and increased the MPs’ quota to 10 each.

A Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher said the students getting admission under the quota were generally not sincere about studies.

“Six out of 10 students getting admission under the quota have a superiority complex. They are not sincere. It will be good if the quota is abolished,” the teacher said.

Vacation grouse

Kendriya Vidyalaya teachers have complained that they would not be able to utilise their summer vacation, from May 9 to June 16, as the board exams and the admission process have been scheduled then.

“The teachers are not allowed to leave their work station because of exam and admission duties. This means teachers will not be able to visit their native places for the third consecutive year. In the last two years, they could not leave base because of the Covid restrictions,” a principal said.