India’s Top Government Day & Boarding Schools

The country’s well-funded 1,117 Central government-promoted Kendriya Vidyalayas and 596 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools dominate the EW league tables of government day and boarding schools

Neglected and ruined by years of political indifference and/or interference, India’s 1.2 million government schools, defined by lack of functional toilets, multi-grade teaching, teacher absenteeism, poor learning outcomes and grossly inadequate funding – public spending on education has averaged a mere 3.25-3.5 percent of GDP for over six decades (cf. 5.8 percent in the US) – lag miles behind the country’s 319,000 recognised private schools.

The narrative however changes when it comes to the 1,117 Central government-promoted Kendriya Vidyalayas with an aggregate enrolment of 1.2 million students countrywide. These ‘model’ government schools, established for the education of children of transferable government employees and managed by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan – provided generous allocation in annual Union budgets (Rs.3,795 crore in 2016-17) – are nationally reputed for academic and co-curricular excellence. Unsurprisingly, in the second EW Government Day Schools Rankings, they dominate the government day schools league table with seven KV’s featuring in the Top 10.

The 1,067 respondents including parents, principals and teachers polled by Delhi-based C fore have once again voted Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom (estb.1964) India’s #1 government day school with top ratings for competence of faculty, sports education and leadership/management. “This is a moment of great joy and pride not only for KV Pattom but the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. KV Pattom has a good record not only for academic excellence but also for co-curricular and sports achievements. In the national level sports meet organised by the School Games Federation of India last year, seven of our students were selected to represent the country. Its this focus on all-round education that has won us the respect of your knowledgeable survey respondents”, says S. Ajayakumar, a science and education postgraduate of Kerala University who began his career as a KV teacher in Manipur in 1992 and has since served as principal of KV schools in Mankhurd (Mumbai), Kumbhirgram (Assam), Delhi Cantt, prior to being appointed principal of KV Pattom in 2003. Currently KV Pattom has an aggregate enrolment of 4,114 students including 2,047 girls, mentored by 163 teachers.

A notable feature of the EW government day schools league table is that of the seven KVs ranked within the Top 10, four are from the southern state of Kerala, the country’s most literate state (94 percent).

The minority of state government schools included in the Top 10 government day schools league table are the Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu, Kozhikode – which received Rs.16 crore makeover funding from the Dubai-based Faizal and Shabana Foundation in 2014 – at #4 (3), the previously unranked Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), Dwarka, Delhi #5 and Jadavpur Vidyapith #6.

Dr. Tej Pal Singh, an alumnus of Meerut and Delhi universities and principal of the Delhi state government-funded RPVV, Dwarka (estb.2003), believes that the rankings haven’t done justice to the school. “Our #5 ranking in the league table is unsatisfactory. RPVV, Dwarka is no less on any parameter than those ranked above us. In fact, we are far ahead of many KVs in innovative teaching, assessment systems, infrastructure provision and learning outcomes. Our faculty is also highly-qualified with four of them boasting Ph D degrees, and several have been conferred national and state awards. Most of our students who come from the economically and socially backward sections have been admitted into IITs, top-ranked medical colleges, and Delhi University. Now that they know this, next year your knowledgeable respondents will rank us higher”, says Singh.

Notably, despite its location in the economically and educationally backward state of Bihar (pop.99 million) notorious for its exam cheating scandals, the Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya (SAV), Jamui, has been adjudged India’s #1 government boarding school by the specially constituted sample respondent base of 1,067 parents/teachers.

Promoted in 2010 by the Nitish Kumar-led JD (S) government as a “model government residential school”, this English medium class VI-XII school affiliated with the Bihar School Examinations Board, has an enrolment of 443 boarders including 233 girls. “I am grateful to my colleagues and students whose efforts have helped us retain the #1 rank for the second consecutive year. Despite the school being only six years old, 36 of our students have cleared the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship examination of the State Council of Education Research and Training. We are committed to continuous improvement and our objective is to transform SAV into the best residential school in the country”, says Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, an alumnus of S.K.M. University, Dumka, Jharkhand who served in a higher secondary school in Bhutan for 11 years before taking charge as principal of SAV in 2011.

Ranked second among government boarding schools this year is the previously unranked CBSE-affiliated Oak Grove School, Dehradun, established way back in 1888 by the East India Railway Company and currently administered by Indian Railways. The remaining eight slots in the ten-strong EW government boarding schools league are awarded to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools, promoted and managed by the Central government (see league table on p.276).

Conceptualised in 1984 by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91) as free co-educational boarding schools modelled on India’s public (i.e exclusive, private) schools for the brightest and best students of rural India, the country’s 596 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas have built an enviable reputation for offering free-of-charge high-quality education to students selected on merit in rural India.

Promoted in 1987, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Chendayad, Kannur, is ranked #3 this year (#4 in 2015). “We owe our success to our dedicated teachers who have created a joyful and happy learning environment which fosters self-discipline among students while encouraging co-operation between parents and the school. Our students have excelled in the class XII CBSE board exam with the school recording the highest average – 90 percent – among all JNVs countrywide. We hope to continue working hard to improve all aspects of academics, sports, co-curricular education and pastoral care to be ranked #1 next year”, says Pushkaran K, principal of JNV Kannur which has an enrolment of 476 students including 225 girls, and 25 teachers on its musters.