Opening of new Kendriya Vidyalayas

1945. SHRI SANJAY KAKA PATIL:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to open new Kendriya Vidyalayas;

(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise, particularly in the Western Maharashtra;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to promote Indian culture, educational tradition, and value-based education along with job creation for the students;

(d) the steps taken by the Government to counter the competition of private school in the booming education sector; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to target the economical weaker sections of society to take advantage of good education?

(a) & (b) Opening of new Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) is a continuous process. KVs are opened primarily to cater to the educational needs of the wards of transferable Central Government Employees including Defence & Para-military personnel, Central Autonomous Bodies, Central Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Central Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) by providing a common programme of education throughout the country. Proposals for opening of new KVs may be sponsored by Ministries or Departments of the Government of India / State Governments / Union Territories (UTs) Administrations, with commitment to provide requisite resources for setting up a new KV as per norms. The proposals are subject to approval of the competent authority.

Proposals / requests for opening of new KVs at various parts of the country have been received by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) from various sponsoring authorities / public representatives. Ministry of Home Affairs has submitted a proposal for setting up of new KV at NDRF Sudumbare (Western Maharashtra).

(c) KVS has taken following initiatives to promote Indian culture, educational tradition and valued based education along with job creation to its students;

• Activities under Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Bhasha Sangam.
• Awakened Citizen programme in collaboration with Ram Krishna Mission.
• Pre-vocational skill educations being taught in Classes VI to VIII.
• Vocational Courses like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Information Technology (IT) are offered as optional skill subject in Classes IX & X.

(d) Central Government Schools namely KVs and Jawahar Nvodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are under the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education. KVs and JNVs have been constantly giving excellent results, which are above the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) average. The pass percentages of KVs and JNVs students in the X and XII board examinations conducted by CBSE are much better as compared to the results of CBSE affiliated private schools.

(e) Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and majority of schools are under the jurisdiction of the respective State Government and Union Territory Administration which are the appropriate Government for implementation of the provision of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The RTE Act, 2009, mandates the appropriate Government to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school.  The RTE Act is applicable throughout the country.

Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act, 2009 provides for admission of children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the schools specified in sub-clauses (iii) and (iv) of clause (n) of section 2 in Class I (or below) to the extent of at least 25 percent of the strength of that class.

State/ UT Government is required to notify the disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, per child cost and start admissions as per the laid down procedure and have a grievance redressal mechanism in place. The Central Government is supporting States and UTs for re-imbursement of expenditure incurred towards payment made to private schools for admission of children under Section 12(1)(c) from 2014-15.

The Department of School Education and Literacy with effect from 2018-19 has launched an Integrated Centrally Sponsored Scheme for School Education- Samagra Shiksha. The scheme has now been aligned with the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to ensure that all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process.

Under the Scheme, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities for universalisation of school education including opening/strengthening of new schools upto senior secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms, setting up, up-gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, setting up of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, free uniforms, free text books, transport allowance and undertaking enrolment & retention drives. Further, special training for age appropriate admission of out of school children and residential as well as non-residential training for older children, seasonal hostels / residential camps, special training centres at worksites, transport/ escort facility are also supported to bring out of school children to the formal schooling system. Further, under the student oriented component for the children with special needs, financial assistance is provided for identification and assessment of children with special needs, aids and appliances, braille kits and books, appropriate teaching learning material and stipend to girl students with disability etc.

From 2021-22, financial assistance upto Rs. 2000 per annum has been envisioned for supporting Out of School Children of age group of 16-19 years, belonging to socio economically disadvantaged groups, for completing their education through National Institute of Open Schooling / State Institute of Open Schooling, for accessing course materials and certification.

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