Kendriya Vidyalayas admissions surge 20 times under HRD minister's quota

The 20-fold increase in Kendriya Vidyalayas admission is quite significant when compared with the 2014 admission season

Admission to Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) schools across the country under the discretionary quota of the Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) in 2018-19 have gone up more than 20 timers when compared with the 2014 admission season, according to a report by The Indian Express. Since 2016, admissions to KVs under the minister's discretionary quota have accounted for more than the total number of admissions securred through all 790 members from both Houses of Parliament. 

The Indian Express report cited data procured nder the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Each Member of Parliament is currently allowed admission of 10 students in an academic session from their constituency (or state in case of a Rajya Sabha MP), while admissions on the recommendation of the HRD Minister are granted without any limit. 

The data obtained by the Indian Express under RTI point out that during the previous academic session (2018-19), 8,164 admissions had been granted through the quota meant for MPs and a total of 9,402 admissions were granted through the HRD Minister quota. Both quotas account for nearly 10 per cent of all new admissions since 2016. 

What is the HRD Minister quota

The HRD Minister acts as the ex-oficio chairman of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which oversees operations of over 1,200 KVs across the country. The minister also leads the general body of the KVs and the Board of Governors (BoG). As the chairman, the HRD Minister is allowed to nominate or recommend admission of new students in any academic year without any limit.  

Earlier, MPs had quota for only six admissions but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre enhanced this limit to up to 10 in the academic session which began in 2016-17.