Govt revises land requirement norms for setting up KV schools

The Centre on Thursday revised land requirement norms for setting up new Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in the country in view of paucity of land.

As per the new norms announced by Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, a Kendriya Vidyalaya can now be set up in 2.5 acres of land as against the current requirement of 4 acres in a metro city.

Also, the current land requirement of 10 acres in rural areas and 8 acres in urban and hilly areas has been reduced to 5 acres.

"This is a historic decision which was taken in view of the land crunch in the country," Javadekar said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new building of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Shahdara on Thursday.

The minister, however, emphasised that outdoor activities like sports and fitness exercises were also important along with studying as the student learns and gains a feeling of teamwork through sports after sweating and toiling hard.

"The government is working actively on providing quality education to students, as it believes that only a proper and quality education has the potential of developing a good citizen with strong character," Javadekar said.

The minister further said that for streamlining the admission process, the form filling process has been made online from this session so that people do not have to run from pillar to post to get their wards admitted in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

He said a link in this regard has been put up on the website of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

Javadekar further said that in view of shortage of teaching staff in its schools, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has also begun the process of recruiting more than 6,250 teachers.

"We have received lakhs of application and teachers will be recruited on the basis of merit thereby ending the shortage of teachers," he added.

The function was also addressed by Delhi BJP president and northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari who expressed his gratitude to Javadekar for sanctioning the construction work of first Kendriya Vidyalaya in the Shahdara District.

He added that Javadekar was the first Union HRD minister to have visited the area.