Three JNV boarding schools, 10 KVs to be established in Kashmir

Srinagar: The Central government has decided to set up three new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) and 10 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) across 10 districts of the valley.

There are around 11 KNVs and 10 JNVs already established in eight districts of Kashmir.

According to the officials at the directorate of education, Kashmir, three JNVs will be established in Srinagar, Pulwama, and Bandipora for which the land is being identified.

JNVs are being run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, New Delhi, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

They are the fully residential and co-educational school affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, with classes from VI to XII standard.

These schools are specifically tasked with finding talented children in rural areas and providing them with an education equivalent to the best residential school system, without regard to their family’s socio-economic condition.

An official said it will for the first time that JNV will be established in Srinagar. He said 240 kanals of land are needed to set up JNV in Srinagar because it is a big establishment with multi-storeyed buildings with hostel facilities, staff accommodation, and with all the modern facilities available for students.

“In Srinagar, 240 kanals of land is not available. We are now looking for a minimum of 100 kanals of land. We have visited many sites to identify the land,” he said.

Students from class 6th can get admission to JNVs after qualifying the entrance test. “75% percent of seats are reserved for rural children and 25% for urban children. And 33% of seats are reserved for girl students both from rural and urban,” said Zahoor Ahmad, Principal JNV Baramulla, and representative of Novodiya Vidyalaya Samiti.

He said the outcome of JNVs is even better than private schools. “The alumni of these schools are occupying good positions. 40% bureaucracies in J&K are Navodians,” he added.