New Delhi, September 21: Delhi’s high-profile Sanskriti School attended primarily by children of central government bureaucrats could soon have clones in state capitals across the country.
According to a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) proposal, states will give the land free, and the Centre will provide financial assistance to set up the schools.
In return for the land, a percentage of seats will be kept for children of state government officers. The bulk of the seats will remain reserved for children of central government officers.
The proposal, prepared by DoPT Secretary Shantanu Consul, says the Civil Service Society, which manages the Sanskriti School in Delhi, will provide support to design the curriculum and hire and train teaching staff. The schools may receive donations from NGOs to upgrade infrastructure.
The proposal says Kendriya Vidyalayas do not serve the purpose “very well” because children coming from other KVs get priority in admission to Class 2 and above.
Sanskriti, which was set up in 1998 in the capital’s diplomatic enclave, Chanakyapuri, has been under the scanner of the Delhi High Court for the lease of a 7.67-acre plot on a token annual rent of Rs 2, and receiving government funds to the tune of Rs 28 crore from various ministries and departments.
In January, the court pulled up the government, saying “the conditionality of having to admit children of employees of the central government can hardly be characterised as a legitimate public end. It certainly would not muster any permissible classification test under Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution.”
-Agencies