Rlys schools to be brought under KVS or run on PPP model
AT PRESENT 94 SCHOOLS ARE RUN BY RAILWAYS FOR EDUCATION TO CHILDREN OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS CHILDREN OF NON-RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.
PRAYAGRAJ: Schools of the Indian Railways would now be brought under the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS). In places where the KVS option wasn’t feasible, these schools would be handed over to the state government or to be developed on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, railway officials said.
This follows the recommendations of the principal economic advisor of the union ministry of finance, Sanjeev Sanyal and its approval by the Cabinet, railway officials said.
In 2015, the Bibek Debroy committee on restructuring railways too had suggested closing down these schools and had suggested association with KVS and private schools for wards of railway employees.
The Cabinet secretariat had sent the recommendation to the Railway Board for implementation, and which has now sent them to all zonal railways including the North Central Railways (NCR) headquartered in Prayagraj, officials said.
“We have received the letter from the Railway Board and would be taking suitable steps as per their instructions,” Chief public relations officer (CPRO), NCR, Shivam Sharma said.
At present 94 schools are run by Indian railways for education to children of railway employees as well as children of non-railway employees.
In 2019, 15,399 wards of railway employees were enrolled in the schools against 34,277 students hailing from families not employed with railways.
Indian Railways also supports 87 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) where 33,212 railway wards and 5,386 non-railway wards are enrolled.
Total number of railway wards in the age bracket of 4 to 18 years is 7,99,703 and of this only 2 per cent students attend railway schools, officals said quoting the recommendations, a copy of which is with HT.
Geographically, the Railway schools aren’t necessarily concentrated in the most deprived parts of the country and have to compete with private schools which also exist now in places where there are railway colonies, the finance ministry recommendation states.
As per those recommendations, operating railway schools takes up large amount of time of the railway management whose core competence is in running and maintaining the railway service.
“Thus, we recommend minimizing this time of railway management in running schools, except where absolutely necessary,” the recommendation states.
It has been recommended that wherever possible Railway schools be brought under KVS with a quota for the children of railway employees, which is the most preferred option.
As per Sanyal’s recommendations where Kendriya Vidyalayas does not have the capacity to run the railway schools, they could be handed over to respective state governments with the preference to children of railway employees.
Besides where appropriate, Public Private Partnership (PPP) model may also be explored, it suggests. However, it adds that these schools might be continued in such remote areas where they are considered necessary.