BJD MLA wants quota system scrapped in OAV admission

Bhubaneswar: Former higher education minister and BJD MLA Arun Sahoo urged chief minister Mohan Majhi to stop quota-based admission system in Odisha Adarsh Vidyalayas (OAV)s, forcing the BJP to wonder why this issue was not raised when the BJD was in power.
Currently, each MLA can get two students admitted to an OAV in his/her area. Sahoo feels the practice is unfair to the students who have to appear for entrance exams.
The govt established an OAV in each block in Odisha to provide quality education to meritorious students.To get admission to this school, a student must appear for an entrance examination.
"During the establishment of the schools, the MLA of an assembly constituency was allowed to recommend two students for admission in these schools. Because of this, hundreds of parents approach the MLAs for this quota and request them to recommend their wards for admission into OAVs," said Sahoo.
He said normally students take admission in these schools via entrance exams. "If some students enter via quota, it will be unfair for students appearing for the exams. I feel this quota system should be abolished for a level playing field for all students. I request the chief minister to consider my request," said the BJD MLA.
Responding to it, BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal wondered why Sahoo did not raise the issue before. Sahoo said he had written to the chief minister on this issue when the BJD govt was in power, Biswal said, adding, "That means the BJD govt was not listening to its own MLA at that time. By the way, the BJP govt will discuss this issue with all MLAs in the assembly and then take further action on this suggestion."
When asked about the delay in raising the issue, Sahoo said the quota system was present in centrally funded Kendriya Vidyalayas too. "BJP came to power in 2014, but it abolished the quota system in KVs in 2022. Why did they take so much time to do this? Whenever the elected representatives felt the need, they raised the issue," Sahoo said.