Promoting education across country

KVs And JNVs are the two bAt primary and the secondary stages Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are two well known names in the realm of education at central government level in India. Lakhs of students are studying in these central schools. Government of India approved the scheme of KVs in November, 1962 on the recommendations of the 2nd Central Pay Commission which suggested that Government should prepare a scheme to provide uninterrupted education to the wards of the transferrable Central Government employees. The scheme came into existence in 1963. The founder of JNV scheme is Late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, who established JNV in 1986. It is a network of Government of India run schools specifically crafted to offer quality education to the underprivileged rural talented students. Though both these centrally administered prominent educational institutions have a common objective of providing quality education to children regardless of their socio-economic background yet they vary in their approaches and focus to achieve the end result briefly described as follows. Advertisment KVs:- It is one of the world's largest chain of such schools and the largest one in India. KVs provide a common syllabus and methodology of imparting education and are meant to ensure that children of central government employees do not face educational disadvantages when their parents are transferred from one place to another place of posting. KVs make the education comparatively affordable as fee is generally much less than private schools. They focus more on the mainstream academics. They have stronger emphasis on military type discipline and training with career in defence requirements. Extracurricular activities are relatively vast. They adopt National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum and are affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). All the schools are co-educational and offer classes from 1st to 12th and emphasize a structured teaching role in urban areas . The medium of instruction is primarily Hindi and English. They offer a wide range of subjects like English, Hindi, Science, Sanskrit, Work Experience, Arts, Social Studies, Maths, Physical and Health Education etc. For opening a new KV school 2.5 acres of land are required. JNVs:- JNVs too adopt NCERT curriculum and are affiliated to CBSE. They provide residential quality education to the talented students from class 6th class to 12th class. They lay stress on grooming meritorious students from rural areas. Linked to merit based entrance test they are marked for academic brilliance and a peculiar atmosphere offered for otherwise disadvantaged children and that is further substantiated by their performance at Board examinations. Their extracurricular activities are comparatively limited. However, JNV has a more competitive environment due to availability of limited number of seats as compared to KVs. JNVs provide a common core curriculum and ensure comparability in standards to facilitate understand the common and composite culture & civilization of people. For getting admission in JNV a candidate must be between the age group of 13-15 years on 1st May of the year of admission. The selection test is conducted by CBSE which is called Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya Selection Test. Each JNV is a co-educational residential institution giving free boarding and lodging, text books, school uniforms, to and fro bus/rail fare and stationery to the inmates. Both KVs and JNVs under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, hold recruitment examinations for teaching and non-teaching purposes across the country for various posts of trained graduate teachers, post graduate teachers, primary teachers and non-teaching posts thus creating employment for thousands of youth and livelihood for lakhs of people. On 6/12/2024 the Union Cabinet sanctioned 85 new KVs and 28 new JNVs at an approved outlay of Rs.8,231 crore for establishing these schools. Jammu and Kashmir will have the highest number of 13 new KVs while Arunachal Pradesh will receive the highest number of 18 new JNVs. These are in addition to the currently functional 1,256 KVs and 653 JNVs making a total of 1,341 and 681 respectively. Advertisment Before these 50 new schools were approved by BJP Government in March 2019 and in February 2014 the UPA Government had sanctioned 54 schools just ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The 85 KVs will be established within a span of eight years commencing from 2025-26 while as 28 JNVs will be created during five years beginning from 2024-25. These schools are expected to create additional enrollment capacity for about 10,000 students with employment generation for nearly 6,600 new posts. The new KVs are spread across 19 States and Union Territories. The criterion behind the districts chosen for sanctioning new KVs has been clarified by a senior government official who said, 'New Kendriya Vidyalayas are created based on demand which means we usually establish a new school where there are at least 500 families of Central Government employees. For instance in Jammu & Kashmir a large number has been approved to cater to the families of the many CRPF personnel posted there. To give you another example, in Andhra Pradesh we have approved a KV in a district where the revenue department has started a new training institution.' The official elaborated, 'As for the JNVs, a large number has been for three North-Eastern States-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur- a decision strategically aimed at opening more schools in border States of the region.'Six JNVs were cleared for Assam and three for Manipur. These three States account for 17 of the new 28 JNVs. Although all these schools (54 of 2014 and 50 of 2019) have started functioning many are operating from temporary premises. 'So this time the Union Cabinet has decided that a new KV or new JNV shall not start functioning not even from temporary premises, unless the land for the permanent campus of the institutions has been transferred by the State Government or the Defence Ministry whichever is applicable in the case,' the official said. This condition can be a barrier in achieving the ultimate goal of strengthening and spreading of education to the underprivileged youth within the targeted period and finance as acquisition or transfer of land takes time especially in case of JNVs where 30 acres of suitable land are required and which the State Government has to provide free of cost along with sufficient temporary accommodation to run the school till the completion of the Vidyalaya building. In view of paucity of land in places like Jammu & Kashmir, time required for construction of new buildings and economy in expenditure, it would be better to have vertical layers on the existing structures to achieve the targets within the stipulated time and at lesser expenditure. The author is a former Sr. Audit Officer and Consultant in the A.G's Office Srinagar.