Kendriya Vidyalayas Failed to Provide Free Edu'n under RTE-HC Notice

Published: Thursday, May 9, 2013, 15:09 [IST]

Kendriya Vidyalaya's which had focused to provide free education under the RTE act has failed to do so. Hence, Delhi High Court has noticed Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to make its stand clear on a PIL for it failure to provide free education to students of class 1-8.

A bench of Chief Justice D.Murugesan and Justice Jayanth Nath has issued notice to the Ministry of human resource development and also to the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) seeking a response by 15th of May, 2013.

The court order came after KVS's counsel, who accepted notice in the court, submitted that after the enforcement of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, (RTE) Right To Education Act, no tuition fee has been collected from students but on account of computer classes and other things, a minimal amount was charged from them.

The bench took over the hearing after an PIL was filed by Social Jurists, an NGO, through counsel Ashok Agarwal, alleging that all the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV's) all over the country. It also includes KV's in Delhi as they have been found charging fee under various heads from the students of class I to VIII.

The petitioner has revealed that, KVS has "failed" to provide totally free education to students studying in Class I to Class VIII in all Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) run by them as required in terms of Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India read with Section 3 of the RTE Act.

About KVS

The system came into being in 1963 under the name "central schools" and has been affiliated with CBSE since then. Later, the name was changed to Kendriya Vidyalaya. Its objective was to educate children of the Indian defence services personnel who are often posted to remote places. There are 1090 schools known as Kendriya Vidyalayas, 1087 are in India, and three are abroad.[1] A total of 11,29,481 students (as of 1 Oct 2012) and 56,445 employees are on the rolls (as of 1 Oct 2012). These have been divided amongst 26 regions, each headed by a deputy commissioner.

Some of the major objectives of these Kendriya Vidyalayas are as follows:

To cater to the educational needs of the children of transferable Central Government employees including Defence and Para-Military personnel by providing a common programme of education; To pursue excellence and set the pace in the field of school education;

To initiate and promote experimentation and innovativeness in education in collaboration with other bodies like the Central Board of Secondary Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training etc.

To develop the spirit of national integration and create a sense of "Indianness" among children. Memorandum Of Association (Hindi version)

To Provide, establish, endow, maintain, control & manage schools, hereinafter called the 'Kendriya Vidyalaya' for the children of transaferable employees of the Government of India, floating populations & others including those living in remote & undeveloped locations of the country & to do all acts & things vecessary for the conducive to the to the promotions of such schools.