Bhubaneswar, May 7: The Union government has selected Khurda as one of the 41 blocks in the country for setting up of a Rashtriya Adarsh Vidyalaya (RAV), a pilot project.

Overall, 2,500 model schools are proposed to come up in non-educationally backward blocks across the country in public-private-partnership mode to provide holistic education to less privileged but meritorious students, apart from addressing their emotional and behavioural problems.

The schools, to be modelled after the Kendriya Vidyalayas, will conduct classes from VI to XII with quality infrastructure and faculty. Apart from a thrust on computer education, science, mathematics and English, there will be a provision for health studies and medical check-up.

These schools will also have facilities to cater to disabled children and engage special teachers for them.

The Union ministry of human resource development has shortlisted private entities for the purpose. Either brand new schools will be established or the existing ones will be converted into model schools. The private party, which will enter into an agreement with the Centre, will be made accountable through regular inspections, audit and monitoring.

To avoid any controversy, the schools must be named in such a manner that there is no reference to a particular religion, caste or community and have to be followed by the “Rashtriya Adarsh Vidyalaya” tag.

Admissions to the RAVs will be conducted on the basis of an entrance test with a cap on the intake capacity of each school being fixed at 2,500.

Students who have passed Class V from another school in the same block will be eligible for admission. However, the private party will have the freedom to fill up 60 per cent seats and decide on the modalities for enrolling a student under management quota.

“It is possible that in some areas, which are comparatively backward and where affordability of fee for management seats is limited, the private sector could be asked to run the school with only government quota for the first three years and then bring it down to 60 per cent in the next five years,” said official sources.

On the other hand where the demand for management quota is very high, the private entity will be allowed to increase it to 60 per cent on the condition that the government quota is not meddled with. The teacher-pupil ratio will be 1:25 and the number of students per classroom cannot exceed 40 to promote quality learning.

Students will have the right to free education till Class VIII, but a nominal monthly fee of Rs 50 will be charged for government-sponsored students in classes IX to XII.