Centre to approve 20 new Navodaya Vidyalayas today

In another round of sops ahead of next general elections, the Union Cabinet on Thursday is set to approve setting up of 20 new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas...

In another round of sops ahead of next general elections, the Union Cabinet on Thursday is set to approve setting up of 20 new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in districts with high SC/ST population. This is the first time since these schools were established in 1985 that more than one Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya will be there in a district. The proposal is among several others that came from the Committee on Dalit Affairs headed by Pranab Mukherjee.

At a cost of nearly Rs 430 crore, the 20 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) will be set up across states, said sources. The suggestion of these schools is learnt to have come from Ram Vilas Paswan and HRD Minister Arjun Singh in concurrence.

According to the norms, at present, the Government provides for one JNV per district. JNVs are the brain child of the then Human Resources Minister, P V Narasimha Rao to find and foster talented children from rural parts of India. They were formerly named as Navodaya Vidyalayas and renamed later as ‘Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas’ in the birth-centenary year of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. These schools offer free education to all students who get selected through an all India entrance exam, held at district level. There are over 400 JNVs at present.

The UPA Government formed the Committee on Dalit Affairs in 2005 towards its proclaimed commitment to Dalit welfare by focussing on districts with substantial scheduled caste population somewhat similar to UPA Government’s initiative for minority concentrated districts.

The committee comprising Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Arjun Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, Meira Kumar, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivraj Patil, and Montek Singh Ahluwalia among others

has finalised its recommendations after discussing the suggestions of six-different sub groups constituted under different ministers.