Bihar Residential Schools to Admit Daughters of Staff in Landmark Policy Shift
Patna: In a landmark move aimed at supporting both its educators and their families, the Bihar government has approved a new policy allowing the daughters of residential school staff to enrol in the same institutions where their parents work.
The decision, announced by the Department of Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare, marks a significant departure from earlier regulations, under which no provision existed for the children of teaching and non-teaching staff—especially girls—to study at these state-run residential schools.
The policy applies to OBC Girls Residential +2 High Schools, which offer free education and accommodation to students from Backward and Extremely Backward Classes. Staff at these schools—including principals, teachers and non-teaching personnel—are required to live on campus as part of their role. Until now, however, their daughters were not permitted to enrol in the same schools, forcing many families to live apart or seek alternative schooling arrangements.
The revised guidelines, the department said, are designed to address this long-standing concern and create a more inclusive and supportive educational environment.
Key changes include:
- Staff daughters will now be eligible for admission in the same residential schools where their parents are posted.
- Up to two daughters per staff member may be enrolled as day scholars, meaning they will live with their parents in on-campus staff quarters but will not occupy residential hostel facilities.
- The policy is optional, not mandatory, and extends even to daughters who do not belong to BC-I or BC-II categories.
- The measure is gender-specific, applying only to girls, and will not affect the regular seat allotment in classes (e.g., 40 seats in Class 6 will remain unchanged).
- Provisions have also been made for transferable enrolment in case a parent is posted to another OBC Girls Residential +2 High School.
Importantly, parents will remain responsible for providing food and clothing for their daughters, while the government continues to cover education and housing infrastructure.
Officials have described the decision as both pragmatic and compassionate. “This step is rooted in the understanding that our teaching and support staff perform best when their family needs are recognised and accommodated,” the department said in a statement.
