more-in The Kozhikode district administration is trying hard to start a Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) on the outskirts of the city from the next academic year. “We have already decided to establish a KV at Ulliyeri in a six-acre plot,” U.V. Jose, District Collector and chairman of the Vidyalaya Management Committee, told The Hindu on Thursday. “Land has been acquired. Now we are looking to rent a building to temporarily house the school.” At present two KVs function in the city, one at East Hill and the other at Govindapuram, known as KV No.1 and KV No.2, respectively. The total strength at KV No.1 is 3,091 and at KV No.2 is 1,023. The State government’s plan to open two more KVs in the district began three years ago. For a decade, the existing KVs have been unable to meet the growing demand. Parents have no choice but to opt for government and aided schools, recognised CBSE schools that charged exorbitant fees and even unrecognised English-medium schools with a fake CBSE tag. The project to establish two schools, one at Ulliyeri and the other either in the city or its suburbs, kick-started when former Collector N. Prasanth went ahead with the government proposal. “However, as of now, the administration has not proceeded with the second school,” Mr. Jose said. The number of KVs in Kozhikode is fewer than Ernakulam or Thiruvananthapuarm districts which have six or more. Even Kasaragod district has three KVs. Kannur has six including the INS Zamorin at Ezhimala, and Palakkad has three. The shortage of KV has led to CBSE-affiliated private schools charging hefty donations and unreasonable fees. Two major reasons have been cited for parents preferring the KVs: the nominal fee structure and the highly qualified and competent faculty since most of them get into the KV after rigorous tests. At the same time, private managements which take care to appoint qualified staff are compelled to charge an annul fee ranging from ?20,000 to ?50,000 per student. The argument these managements sell is that the sustainability of their institution relied on the fees collected from the students. However, despite warning from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, many schools unscrupulously indulge in collecting capitation fees between ?50,000 and ?5 lakh at the entry level.

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