Gopalakrishna: JNVs talent hunt

T. Gopalakrishna is Joint Commissioner (Personnel) at the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) Headquarters, Noida. With over 36 years of service, he has played a pivotal role in shaping rural education in India through leadership grounded in equity and inclusion.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are a unique network of 661 co-ed class VI-XII rural boarding schools into which rural students are admitted on merit after writing a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test conducted by NVS, an autonomous body under the Union education ministry.

Newspeg. Earlier this year, a Centre of Excellence for Para Sports (COEPS) was established at JNV, Ranga Reddy, Telangana, under Gopalakrishna’s leadership. This initiative — the first-of-its-kind within the Navodaya system — focuses on identifying and nurturing sporting talent among Children with Special Needs (CWSN). Through an annual nationwide talent hunt and training camp, promising para-athletes from JNVs across India are selected for specialised coaching at COEPS.

History. Born and raised in Andhra Pradesh, Gopalakrishna is an alumnus of the Regional Institute of Education, Mysore (1984-88). After graduation, he began his professional career at Nampally Vyayamshala High School (1988-89) before signing up with the JNV system in 1989 as a trainee teacher in Pune, and simultaneously completed a Masters in education at Amaravati University. Subsequent postings in Amaravati, Hyderabad, and JNV Ranga Reddy augmented his teaching and administrative leadership skills.

Direct talk. “Every child deserves the chance to discover her latent aptitudes and skills. Sports education builds children’s self-belief and dignity faster than any lecture can,” says Gopalakrishna, adding that because of a difficult and deprived childhood, “I lead not from a pedestal, but from shared experiences.”

A staunch believer that access to quality schooling is a great socio-economic leveller, Gopalakrishna says that the well-rounded education dispensed by JNVs has “the power to transform. It nurtures confidence, empathy, and the courage to question the status quo. JNVs enable children from rural India to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best professionals worldwide.”

Future plans. Under his guidance, NVS has drawn up plans to expand the COEPS at JNV, Ranga Reddy to mentor 200 special needs children to participate in para-Olympics; strengthen public-private partnerships for STEM and leadership development; launch digital exchange and innovation platforms to connect JNV students globally and integrate NEP 2020-aligned vocational and multilingual modules across all JNVs. “Our dream is to make every JNV a lighthouse of holistic education — where compassion meets competence, and rural talent meets global opportunity,” says this dedicated para sports educator.

Priyanka Edupuganti (Hyderabad)