Now, Sanskriti schools to be set up across India; wards of state govt employees, PSUs, IITs, IIMs etc. to benefit

THE Central government has proposed to set up Sanskriti-type schools in various state capitals, taking almost the same model of Sanskriti School, Delhi which was established in 1998 to cater to the needs of the employees coming to Delhi on a transfer. The proposal, according to new draft guidelines, has to be initiated by a state government with a justification that the number of All India or Central services officers posted in a state are sufficient. Under the draft guidelines for which comments are being sought till June 20, wards of employees of Central PSUs, IITs, IIMs or state governments can avail of a particular quota if those organizations provide free land for constructing the school. Here are the 10 key things about the proposed modality of setting up Sanskriti-type schools across India:

1. The Central government support would be provided only after the careful examination of the justification with priorities given to large metro cites where large number of officers are posted. 

2. A proposal can also be initiated by a Union ministry or department, Central PSUs or autonomous bodies if they are ready to provide land free of cost, and also provide partial non-recurring cost for infrastructure. 

3. Draft guidelines allow government-controlled educational institutes such as IIMs, IITs, NITs and other universities to initiate setting up Sanskriti schools. 

4. 60% of seats will be reserved for the wards of officers belonging to All India Services/Central services/other transferable services with overriding priority given to wards of officers posted on transfer. And if the land is provided by the state government for free of cost, 30% of seats will be reserved for the wards of the state government employees. (In that case, only 30% will be reserved for Central government officers’ wards). And if the land is provided by other Central government entities as mentioned above, 30% of the seats will be reserved for the wards of the employees of that particular organization. 

5. In case, there are vacancies among the 30% seats reserved for the Central government employees’ wards, those can be transferred to the wards of the state government officers. 

6. Among the remaining 40% seats, 25% will be reserved for the children belonging to disadvantageous backgrounds. Hence, only 15% of the total seats will be open for children of general public.

7. The ceiling for the government of India’s financial assistance for infrastructure creation is Rs 25 crore for “A” class cities, Rs 20 crore for “B” class cities, and Rs 15 crore for “C” class cities. 

8. Fee structure of the schools would be such that they are able to meet all the recurring expenditure needs themselves. They may, however, receive donations from NGOs to expand school infrastructure. 

9. The schools will be named as Sanskriti (with name of the state) or Sanskriti (with name of the city). But they won’t be construed as branches or affiliates of the Sanskriti School, Delhi. Sanskriti School, Delhi was established in 1998, to cater to the needs of officers of All India Services and other Group “A” services who come to Delhi on transfer. 

10. Even before the draft guidelines were issued, there was a progress in setting up two new Sanskriti Schools, one in Shillong and the other in Lucknow. Five acres of land have already been acquired for establishing the school in Lucknow. Similarly, the government of Meghalaya has allotted 10 acres of land for establishing a Sanskriti School in Shillong.