Mohandas Gandhi Vidyalaya (MGV) in Rajkot, the alma mater of Mahatma Gandhi, will face a grant cut of 25 per cent from this year. Poor Class X results for three consecutive years made the state Education Department take this step.

MGV is among 46 schools in the city and 130 in Rajkot district that will face grant cuts for failing to improve performance, according to said District Education Officer K D Bagda.

The decision means the school will lose Rs 15 lakh per year. And, if the poor show continues, it is likely to see a cut in grant meant for payments to teachers, including salary and perks.

The school gets grants in four quarters — July, September, December and March.

Deo officials maintained that MGV had been registering below 30 per cent results in Class X for at least three years now. According to them, government schools and those supported by grant-in aid in Rajkot generally get students with poor education background.

And MGV, despite its past glory, has been no exception. “Most of the students here belong to poor families, who also have poor primary education background,” said a top official from the school.

Last year, a total of 968 schools (where pass percentage was below 30) in 25 districts of the state were served notices to pull up their socks. Most of these schools were in Rajkot district.

Following this, the Gujarat State Secondary Education Board embarked on a mission to improve the education standard in these schools in November 2008. As a first step, notices were served to each school asking to prepare an action plan, considering the limitations and problems the schools faced.

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