With an aim to provide free and quality education to the children of labourers, the Uttar Pradesh government will start classes at Atal Residential Schools from the upcoming academic session, a senior official said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2019 announced the establishment of the residential schools named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Application forms will be available between February 15 and 20. There is also the option of online application, the official said.

The entrance exam, to be conducted through the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), will take place at the end of May and the merit list released in mid-June. The classes will begin in July.

Eighty students will get admission in Class 6 in each Atal Residential School at the beginning. A maximum of two children from the family of a labourer can attend the school.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for holding the entrance exam through the CBSE is currently underway, the official said.

Each Atal Residential School, being built on the lines of Navodaya Vidyalayas, will have a principal, an administrative officer and 11 teachers.

Recruitment of the teachers and other staff members for the schools, being constructed in each of the 18 divisional headquarter towns, will begin shortly.

The appointment of principals is likely to be completed by mid-February and the others by mid-May.

Adityanath had earlier said the schools would provide free facilities to children of registered labourers.

The state government will lead students towards self-reliance through skill development, he had said.

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