The quota was increased from the first two to five and now 10 seats (representative image)
The cabinet is in talks with political party leaders about whether the privilege of MPs who recommend admitting 10 students to central schools in an academic year should be ended.
- PTIA New Delhi
- Last updated:March 21, 2022, 13:38 IST
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The cabinet is in talks with political party leaders about whether the privilege of MPs who recommend admitting 10 students to central schools in an academic year should be ended. The move came after the matter was discussed in the Lok Sabha on Monday and Speaker Om Birla instructed the Union’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, to meet with political party leaders in the House. Have the minister hold a meeting with political party leaders in the House of Representatives to decide whether the parliamentarians’ quota in central schools should be lifted. Why should we have this discriminatory quota. A decision will be made after talks with the leaders of the parties, Birla said.
The issue was first raised by Congress MP Manish Tewari, who said the 10-seat quota for MPs is insufficient as they receive many requests for recommendations for seats in central schools. Tewari said the quota should be discontinued or increased.
If the House is unanimous in ending the quota for MPs, the government can work in that direction, Pradhan said. We are representatives of the people. We are not representatives of a few, said the minister.
He said the quota was increased from the first two to five and now 10 seats (per academic year). However, a number of MPs opposed the move, saying MPs often receive many requests for central school seat recommendations and that the 10-seat quota is insufficient and needs to be improved.
It would be very difficult to get rid of it, said Mahua Moitra, a member of the Trinamool Congress. Pradhan said central schools and Navodaya Vidalayas were established to cater to the needs of departments of all Indian service officers who are transferred to different parts of the country at regular intervals and in areas where central institutions are located.
But there are problems with local aid as state governments have to step forward by offering land to set up central schools, he said. The minister also said that the central government approves the establishment of central schools in batches every two to three years and that it is wrong to say that it has not opened schools for a long time. He said there is at least one central school in almost all districts of the country.
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