navodaya

JAWAHAR NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA

HISTORY

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya known as JNV are Indian schools for talented children and form a part of the system of gifted education. The objectives of the scheme are to provide good quality modern education to the children predominantly from rural areas, without regard to their family's socio-economic condition.

They are located all over the country, except Tamil Nadu. There are approximately 593 JNVs across India as of 2010. They offer quality education to all students who get selected through the admission process which includes an All India Entrance Exam, held at district leve

HISTORY

First established in 1985 at Amravati, Maharashtra, they are the brain child of P. V. Narasimha Rao.^[1] They were started during Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi to find and foster talented children from the rural parts of India.^[2] They started with the name Navodaya Vidyalayas and renamed later as Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the birth-centenary year of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Objectives

To impart good quality modern education to talented children (selected on the basis of a written merit test) predominantly from rural areas, without regard to their family's socio-economic condition.
To ensure that all students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas attain a reasonable level of competence in three languages as envisaged in the Three Language Formula.
To serve, in each district, as focal points for improvements in quality of school education in general through sharing of experiences and facilities.
The motto of these schools is come in to learn and go out to serve.

Regions

Eight Regional Offices are established at Bhopal, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Pune & Shillong with jurisdiction over different States and UTs.

Bhopal (94): Madhya Pradesh (48), Chhattisgarh (16) and Orissa (30)

Chandigarh (45): Punjab (18), Himachal Pradesh (12), Jammu and Kashmir (14) and Chandigarh U.T. (1)

Hyderabad (70): Andhra Pradesh (22), Karnataka (29), Kerala (14), Pondicherry (4), A.&N. Islands (2) and Lakshadweep (1)

Jaipur (54): Rajasthan (32), Haryana (20) and Delhi(31)

Lucknow (82): Uttar Pradesh (69) and Uttaranchal (13)

Patna (75): Bihar (38), Jharkhand (22) and West Bengal (15)

Pune (60): Maharashtra (32), Gujarat(23), Goa(2), Daman & Diu (2) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (1)

North East India (85): Meghalaya(7), Manipur(9), Mizoram (8), Arunachal Pradesh (16), Nagaland (11), Tripura(4), Sikkim(4) and Assam (26).

There are total 600 JNVs as of 31 August 2010.

Admission procedure

Talented students from each district are selected through an All India Level Entrance Exam conducted each year by CBSE and are given admission to 6th standard/class in the JNVs of respective districts. Till 1998, the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test (JNVST) was conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, however it is conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education ever since. The test is largely non-verbal and objective in nature and is designed to prevent any disadvantage to children from rural areas. Now admissions are also taken in Class IX and XI. During academic year 2008-09 admissions will be allowed in Class VIII. These admissions are conducted through an objective and descriptive test containing questions on English, Mathematics, Science, & Social Sciences. This "Lateral Entry" system is devised to fill the vacancies that arise due to withdrawal of admissions of the children who are admitted in class VI.

Eligibility

Since the Vidyalayas have an objective of providing opportunity and education to the underprivileged children of rural areas, the entrance examination has a list of eligibility criteria. They require the student to be:

a student of V standard by a Government recognised school
in the age group of 9-13
a student of III, IV and V in a Government recognised school in a rural area, to apply for a rural quota.
a first time appearer in the entrance exam

Fees

Since 2005, a moderate and uniform fee structure is implemented across all JNVs to reduce the dependency on Government. However, girls are exempted from paying any fees. A monthly Rs 200 is collected for Navodaya Nidhi from class 9th onward from boy students. Also, boys from Scheduled Communities(SC), Scheduled Tribes(ST) and Other Backward Communities (OBC), whose parents do not fall into creamy layer as specified by the Government are exempted from paying any fees.

Reservation

Seats are reserved for the children of rural areas. At least 80% of the seats in a district are filled by candidates selected from rural areas and remaining seats are filled from the urban areas of the district.^{[citation needed]} Reservation of seats in favour of children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is also provided in proportion to their population in the concerned district. These reservations are interchangeable and over and above the candidates selected under open merit. Efforts are made to ensure that one-third of the total seats are filled up by girls.

These students are given free accommodation, food and clothing and are allowed to continue their studies till class 12. All expenses are borne by the Government of India.

The aim of establishing these institutes was to find and nurture the talented students from rural India could not afford a good education. To ensure this, The ratio of 80% from rural to 20% urban students is maintained by the schools.

Student life

Academics

The successive academic results of JNVs in public examinations conducted by CBSE and the records about placement of students after passing out from the Vidyalayas are a clear pointer that the establishment of the Javahar Navodaya Vidyalays is a step in the right direction. The results of class X and XII examinations of the Vidyalayas have been consistently better than the overall CBSE national averages. These results are remarkable and shows the success of the Vidyalays despite the rural background.

Scouting, Guiding and NCC

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti is recognised as a State for Scouting and Guiding activities by the Bharat Scouts and Guides. Navodaya students regularly and actively participate in various programmes of BSG. NCC is being introduced in JNVs in a phased manner. Samiti had a total cadet strength of 9420 during 2003-2004. As part of NCC training, students of the JNVs attended several camps and excelled themselves.

Games and sports

Games and sports are encouraged in the JNVs to develop fitness, physical and neuro-muscular skills and promote the spirits of co-operation and sportsmanship. Vidyalayas organize National Sports Meets to identify talented children in sports. The meets happen at cluster and regional levels every year where students from different JNVs compete. Students picked at regional level compete at national level. Based on the performance at National level, children get a chance to play on behalf of Navodaya team, which is considered as a State, in Sports and Games Federation of India competitions. Specialised sports like archery, Judo and Gymnastics are encouraged in some of the JNVs. JNV Bangalore Urban of Hyderabad region is one of such schools that has proved excellence in games like archery. There are also various exhibitions where the schools bring models and ideas which are then judged and awarded prizes.