Kendriya Vidyalayas’ logo: Arjun Singh drops lotus

The new logo was designed by Sudhir Kumar, art teacher at Delhi Cantt’s KV number 3. The minister liked what he saw and gave his provisional approval which was then ratified by the BoG. The globe that has replaced the lotus in the new logo has, in fact, been borrowed from the UN logo, said officials.

The 43-year-old logo that has been replaced was said to have been designed by ‘some artists of the time’ and was supposed to be a borrowed one.

“When the KVS was established in 1963, the old logo with the lotus was actually just given to them by the then education ministry presided over by M C Chagla. Whereas the old logo was an amalgam of various similar logos, the new one is an in-house effort. In the old logo, the lotus stood as a symbol of education — as the lotus blooms even in filthy water, education purifies all and rises above all narrowness of thought. The new logo reflects the new scientific temper, globalisation and dynamism of education besides technological innovations introduced through satellites and computers,” said Dr U N Singh, Joint Commissioner(Academics), KVS.

The KVS sent off letters to their school principals in Tehran, Moscow and Kathmandu informing them of the emblem change and directing that the new logo be on all letterheads, documents and correspondence between KVs, KVS and regional offices.

Dr Singh says that the organisation would rather steer clear of political controversies and pointed out that the BoG had as members not only eminent educationists, officials from various state Governments, directors of both CBSE and NCERT, but also members of the Opposition parties and the logo change was a ‘collective decision’ arrived at considering the dynamic nature of education.

“We have retained the Sanskrit motto taken from the Upanishads and that is very much reflective of the Indian culture. The new logo was decided upon after several deliberations and keeping in mind the present spirit of education and the scientific temper and globalisation of education besides the changed National Curriculum Framework (NCF) that has broadened horizons and also focused on computer education,” said Dr Singh.

“The basic reason for the change was that for the last 40 years, we were operating with the same logo while our functions and reach had transformed in a major way meanwhile. We are now a global organisation with schools in other countries and so, it was decided to create a new logo which would reflect the KVs as they are now,” Pragya Richa Srivastava, Joint Commissioner, KVS, said. “The lotus was not used in the old KVs logo as a political symbol but as one associated with the Hindu goddess of wisdom Saraswati,” she added.