AN OVER-VIEW OF KVS-MAIN STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
2.1 The KVS is characterized overall by its very large size, a strong pursuit of national identity and of national integration. Its 818 schools cover 29 States and Union Territories. The state-wise distribution of the Kendriya Vidyalayas is given in Table 2.1. below:-
Table 2.1
State-wise distribution of Kendriya Vidyalayas
Sl.No. Name of State/UT Number of KVs
1. Andhra Pradesh 43
2. Assam 45
3. Bihar 57
4. Gujarat 41
5. Haryana 23
6. Himachal Pradesh 17
7. Jammu & Kashmir 25
8. Karnataka 27
9. Kerala 23
10. Madhya Pradesh 87
11. Maharashtra 51
12. Manipur 05
13. Meghalaya 07
14. Nagaland 05
15. Orissa 27
16. Punjab 36
17. Rajasthan 47
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18. Sikkim 01
19. Tamil Nadu 27
20. Tripura 05
21 Uttar Pradesh 116
22. West Bengal 46
23. A&N Island, Port Blair 02
24. Arunachal Pradesh 07
25. Chandigarh 06
26. Delhi 32
27. Goa 05
28. Pondicherry 02
29 Mizoram 01
OUTSIDE INDIA
30. Kathmandu, Nepal 01
31. Moscow, Russia 01
Total 818
One can observe that the KVS has not neglected any part of the country. The North East has 75 schools and Jammu and Kashmir 25 schools indicative of the concern of the KVS to reach out areas which have a tendency of being left out in many other programmes.
2.2 The composition of the students in Kendriya Vidyalaya ensures that students from different ethnic and linguistic groups as also different economic strata mingle with each other. This inter-mingling coupled with twin media of instruction, i.e. English-Hindi and affiliation of all Kendriya Vidyalayas to CBSE whose syllabi are designed nationally, ensures a very strong pursuit of national integration and national identity. It may be noted with a lot of satisfaction that KVS was and
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probably still is the only large chain of schools in the country which teach the children in the medium of English and Hindi simultaneously. Therefore, every student of Kendriya Vidyalayas is fluent in the use of both English and Hindi. This has been a very valuable gain through the Kendriya Vidyalayas.
2.3 The teachers in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan are all well qualified and are normally graduates with a degree/diploma in education. Thus, the KVS has a very competent teaching resource. Also, the level of facilities like buildings, furniture, laboratories and libraries are much above the average. Expectedly, as a result, the results of Kendriya Vidyalayas in both Secondary and Senior Secondary Board examinations have been consistently much higher than the overall CBSE averages. Their performance at the Board Exam. during the period 1989-90 to 1993-94 is given in Annexures V & VI.
2.4 These considerable attainments notwithstanding, there are signs of many weaknesses which need to be checked immediately if the KVS is to retain its distinctive position in future. The first of such weaknesses is its management structure and design. The Defence sector has the largest share in the Kendriya Vidyalayas. While its representatives are on the Sangathan, they are not on the Board. Similarly, representatives of Project Sector and Institutions of higher learning are also not on its Board. Therefore, the Board suffers from the handicap of not adequately representing the concerns of these large sectors. The effect is already visible in that many of these sectors do not find the KVS responsive enough to their needs. The second big weakness of the KVS is that the initially devised management structure for a small number of schools has come under a heavy strain over the years. The powers for day-to-day functioning were entrusted to the Principal and all other powers were exercised in Headquarters with some powers being shared by the
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regional offices. This system is no longer working well in the very large Organisation which the KVS now is. The KVS Headquarters can no longer keep in touch with individual schools and the load of individu- al cases of about 40,000 employees and of 818 schools in regional offices and more than that in the Headquarters is leading to a large volume of personnel, financial and academic matters getting done only with delay or not getting done at all. This situation of considerable centralisation of powers is slowly leading to a breakdown in effective management and academic monitoring and leadership. The absence of a computerised personnel, finance and school management system has made it impossible for the KVS to have access to real time data in almost every respect. These deficiencies are large and potentially damaging and unless they are rectified immediately, the damage which has al- ready started will grow progressively in the coming years.
The third big weakness in the KVS has been its inability to set up an effective in-service training and professional upgradation facility for its teaches, supervisory officers and other employees. The Ken- driya Vidyalaya system being different, the KVS personnel cannot avail of training facility in State Sector and at the national level there is no other facility. Therefore, even though at the time of induc- tion, the KVS staff and officers are highly qualified and competent, they slowly lapse into routine demotivation and non-performance say after first 5-7 years. This is starting to have its effect on the work in the sense that the teaching programme in KVS is getting routi- nised. The spark of innovation and brilliance is rarely seen and while the pass percentages are good, the share of KVS students among the best performers in the CBSE group is small. Although about 400 Kendriya Vidyalayas have as good buildings, laboratories and teacher resource as in other good schools in the country, the Kendriya Vidya- layas are not generally counted among the best schools in the country, particularly in the
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metropolitan cities. With the available teaching and infrastructure support there is no reason for this if the teacher motivation and supervision can be appropriately improved.
2.5 Because of the traditional manual functioning and substantial centralisation of powers, the personnel matters of a large number of employees do not get decided in a timely manner. There are enormous delays in finalising pension and other retirement benefits for retiring employees, counting of past service, sanctioning long leave or advances from Provident Fund and disposing disciplinary cases. These delays have obvious influence on the morale of the teachers and other employees and on their performance. This is also perceived to be adversely affecting the discipline in both schools and offices.
2.6 Finally, one observes the admitted weakness in the education in primary classes. Perhaps due to the overshadowing presence of Board examinations, attention in schools is getting disproportionately focussed at secondary and senior secondary stages. The educational grounding in primary classes is the foundation on which all further educational progress depends and, therefore, immediate strengthening of education in primary classes is an urgent need of the KVS. The situation in regard to co-curricular activities, sports and physical education, vocational education, laboratory/activity work and for modernising educational process requires urgent remedial measures.
2.7 The existing arrangements and the recommendations for corrective measures are presented in the succeeding chapters.
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