The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, a governing body for the centrally funded schools, on Monday scrapped the discretionary quota under which each Member of Parliament can recommend 10 children for admissions to the schools from their constituencies, ANI reported.

The MPs – 543 in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha – could collectively recommend up to 7,880 admissions every year under the discretionary quota across 1,248 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools.

In its revised admission guidelines for 2022-’23 academic year, the autonomous body also upheld its earlier decision to scrap the quota for employees of the education ministry, News18 reported. The ministry could recommend up to 450 students but it was removed last year.

“Moreover, there were provisions of thousands of admissions under quotas of sponsoring agencies and Chairpersons Vidyalaya Management Committees, i.e., district collectors, which have now also been discontinued,” the government’s press release said. “It will free up about 40,000 seats in KVs [Kendriya Vidyalaya] across the country.”

Under the sponsoring agencies quota, five seats in each section of Class 1 were filled by children of sponsoring agencies like the state government or a public sector undertaking company in case the schools were within their premises.

The release said the decision was taken as the quotas were hurting the quality of learning and students-teacher ratio.

“On the other hand, wards of transferable central government employees, who shall be given priority in admissions, were not able to find their rightful places in KVs,” it added.

Other revised guidelines

  • The Armed Forces, including Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, can recommend a maximum of six names for admission in one academic year, except for Classes 10 and 12.
  • The children of any employee currently serving under the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanganthan will be considered for admission irrespective of the class strength and academic year. They will, however, have to clear an exam for Class 9. Retired personnel cannot apply under this quota.
  • Children of central government employees who die before retirement will be considered for admission once the pension papers are verified. Children of recipients of Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Veer Chakra, Ashok Chakra, Kirti Chakra, and Shourya Chakra, Sena Medal, Nau Sena Medal, Vayu Sena Medal, President’s police medal for gallantry and police medal of gallantry will also be considered for admission.
  • Children who have secured a podium position in the School Games Federation of India, Central Board of Secondary Education, state and national games will be considered for admission.
  • Twin children will be accepted in the school as one admission, the guideline said.
  • Children who have been recognised at the state and national level for fine arts will be considered for admission along with those who are recipients of the National Bravery award or of the Bal Shree Award instituted by the National Bal Bhawan.
  • Employees of the Ministry of External Affairs will be considered for 60 seats in the schools for their children and 15 hostel admissions each year.
  • Kendriya Vidyalayas can allot 15 seats for employees of the Research and Analysis Wing, of which only a maximum of five seats will be given in Delhi and the remaining outside of the national capital.
  • The children who have been orphaned due to Covid-19 will be considered for admission under the PM Cares for Children Scheme. Up to 10 students will be considered, not more than two a class, and these students will also be exempt from payment of fees from Classes 1 to 12.
  • Fifty admissions will be reserved for employees of central police organisations. Admissions of chidlren of Kashmiri migrants will also be considered under certain conditions.