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Center to soon start Sanskriti schools across India children of transferable bureaucrats
To replicate a successful network of schools like KV, the center is planning Sanskriti schools across India for the children of bureaucrats’ wards. The schools will have quotas for children of bureaucrats from center and state, an allocation for RTE and the general public.
The Modi Government will support and encourage the opening of other Sanskriti schools in metros for children of bureaucrats on the lines of the Sanskriti school in Delhi. The Centre said it is supporting the Sanskriti schools as the existing Kendriya Vidyalayas network is unable to resolve the problem of providing quality education to the children of transferable central government officers.
A draft policy note seeking comments has been circulated to all ministries on June 7, asking for inputs by June 20. The draft policy note has come at a time when the Supreme Court (SC) is hearing a plea regarding the Sanskriti School in Delhi and has stayed a Delhi High Court order that had last year quashed a 60% quota in the Delhi school reserved for children of transferable Group A civil servants.
The amicus curie in the case had suggested to the SC that the Centre should come up with a comprehensive policy on Sanskriti type schools, prompting the new proposed policy that would be ultimately placed before the SC after finalisation.
The draft policy states that the proposal to set up a Sanskriti type school in any state capital may be initiated by the state government by providing land for the same and the Centre can support such an initiative, giving priority to large metro cities where large number of civil servants could be posted. The proposal may also be initiated by a Central government entity like a ministry, government-controlled educational institutions like universities or an IIT or IIM provided they can provide land free of cost, as per the draft policy.
Seat allocations in Sanskriti schools will be as follows – 60% of seats will be reserved for wards of All India Service officers with 30% of this quota being under Central government and the rest 30% reserved for wards of state government employees in case the state provides free land.
Out of the remaining 40% of seats, 25% will be reserved for children belonging to disadvantaged groups and weaker section as per Right to Education Act and balance 15% for the general public. The Centre will chip in financial assistance for infrastructure creation for setting up such schools ranging from Rs 25 crore to Rs 15 crore depending on the classification of the city.