The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has put admissions under the ‘special provisions’, including the discretionary MP quota, on hold till further orders.

The regional offices of KVS on Tuesday issued circulars saying, “As per the directions of KVS headquarters, New Delhi, you are hereby informed that ‘No admissions should be done under ‘Special provisions’ till further orders.”

The ‘Special Provisions’ in KVS included admissions under 21 different categories including the Children of Central Government employees, Children of recipients of Paramveer Chakra, recipients of National Bravery Award, Children orphaned due to Covid-19 and covered under PM CARES for Children Scheme, and recommendations by the Members of Parliament (MPs), among others.

A senior official at KVS confirmed that the admissions under all the categories of ‘Special Provisions’ have been put on hold ‘temporarily’. “The admissions process for the special provisions are under review. We are examining the previous year’s vacancies, number of applications, and total number of seats available this year. The sangathan may resume the admission process under all these quotas by next week,” the official said.

When asked if it has any connection with the demand of scrapping the MP quota, the official said, “No such decision of scrapping MP quota has been made so far.”

Under KVS Special Dispensation Admission Scheme (MP Quota), an MP in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha can recommend a maximum of 10 students from their respective constituencies every academic year for admission in classes 1st to 9th.

During the recently concluded Parliament session, Congress MP Manish Tewari in Lok Sabha on Monday, asked the Centre to either do away with the MP, or increase it from the present 10 to 50. BJP MP Sushil Modi also demanded that the government should do away with the MP quota.

On March 21, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the Lok Sabha to collectively debate and decide whether the MP quota in KVs should continue or be scrapped. Following his appeal, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had suggested that there could be an all-party meeting to deliberate over the matter.