Almost inevitably, the generously funded Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas dominate the league tables of India’s best government day and boarding schools 2017-18

The country’s 1,125 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and 596 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are the crown jewels of the Indian government school education system, and stand many heads taller than state government schools. Promoted and funded by the Central government through generous budgetary allocations (Rs.4,300 crore for KVs and Rs.2,700 crore for JNVs in Union Budget 2017-18), they are almost unanimously held up as role models for public education by several national education committees including the TSR Subramanian Committee Report on the National Education Policy 2016, which has recommended that the country’s 1.1 million languishing state government schools be upgraded to KV and JNV standards. 

Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that since the EW Government School Rankings were introduced in 2014, the KVs — CBSE-affiliated co-ed day schools established for the education of children of transferable government employees, and managed by the Delhi-based Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan — have dominated the league tables of government day schools. JNVs — free-of-charge class VI-XII boarding schools for meritorious children (selected by an entrance exam) from the rural hinterland — have topped the government boarding schools league table. To compile the league tables of India’s best government day and boarding schools, Delhi-based market research company C fore interviewed 1,146 respondents including principals, teachers and SEC (socio economic category) B, C and D parents countrywide.

In the 2017-18 rankings of India’s best government day schools, eight of the 12 government schools sufficiently well-known to be ranked, are KVs with the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, Kerala (estb.1964) retaining its #1 rank, followed by KV-IIT Madras at #2, KV-IIT Mumbai at #4, KV West Palghat at #7, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Puranattukara, Trichur at #8 and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Keltron Nagar, Kannur at #9. All of them have retained their 2016-17 ranks. The only KV to lose rank is Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa which has slipped to #12 (from #10 in 2016) following the debut of Kendriya Vidyalaya, ISRO Space Centre, Bangalore at #10. 

“It gives us great satisfaction to be ranked India’s #1 government day school for three consecutive years in the country’s most credible schools survey. The public perception of KVs is excellent as compared to state government schools, and middle class parents value and appreciate the high-quality education we offer. I attribute our consistent top rank to the extraordinary commitment of our teachers and the stimulating environment we have created to enable children to excel in academics as well as co-curricular and sports education. For instance last year we introduced a Read programme and Maths Clinic, and also won a government grant to establish an Atal Tinkering Laboratory. Retention of our top ranking is due to constant innovation,” says S. Ajaya Kumar, 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) and Delhi, prior to being appointed principal of KV-Pattom which has an aggregate enrolment of 4,300 students mentored by 90 teachers. 

The four state government schools ranked in the league table are Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School for Girls (GVHSS), Nadakkavu, Kozhikode at #3, Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Sector 10, Dwarka, New Delhi at #5, Jadavpur Vidyapith, Kolkata at #6 — all of whom have held on to their 2016 rankings — and the previously unranked Delhi Government School, Hastsal at #11.

The top-ranked state government primary-secondary in the league table of India’s best government day schools is also based in Kerala, routinely ranked the country’s most literate and socio-economically developed state in almost all surveys and studies. Yet the steady progress of this all-girls state board affiliated class I-XII school, which has 2,548 students and 89 teachers on its muster rolls, is less attributable to efforts of the state government, than of the Dubai-based Faizal & Shabana Foundation which gave the school a complete Rs.16 crore makeover in 2014, transforming it into a model school. 

Comments Jaluse K, an alumnus of Calicut University, who was appointed principal of the all-girls GVHSS in 2012: “We are happy that we have been able to retain our #3 rank. I thank our local MLA, Pradeep Kumar and Faizal and Shabana Foundation for GVHSS’ progress into a model state government school. The provision of modern academic and sports facilities and continuous teacher training has enabled our girl students to excel in academics as well as co-curricular activities and sports — we have strong hockey and football teams. In addition, we conduct classes in communicative English and have initiated a special programme wherein a group of 50 student ambassadors are being trained in leadership and management skills. We are now working with the Faizal and Shabana Foundation to upgrade the upper primary section and library, and start a reading garden and music school.”

In the 2017-18 league table of India’s top-ranked government boarding schools, the CBSE-affiliated Oak Grove School, Mussoorie has replaced Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya (SAV), Jamui (Bihar) — promoted in 2010 by the Nitish Kumar-led JD (S) government as a “model English-medium government residential school” — as the #1 government boarding school. Established in 1888 by the East India Railway Company and sited on a vast 256-acre campus in Mussoorie, Oak Grove is the oldest government boarding school in India. This co-ed school, which is currently managed by Indian Railways, has an enrolment of 650 class III-XII boarders and 45 teachers.

“I am delighted with this public recognition. As the country’s first public sector residential school, we have a rich heritage of excellence in academics, sports and extra-curricular activities. I attribute our #1 ranking to the dedication of the management and teachers towards all-round education. Our teaching-learning is experiential with children encouraged to participate in outdoor activities such as rock climbing, trekking and leadership programmes,” says Jai Prakash Pandey, an alumnus of Kanpur and Lucknow universities who served in Indian Railways prior to his appointment as principal of Oak Grove School in 2016.

Following Oak Grove School and SAV, Jamui, the remaining eight slots in the ten-strong EW government boarding schools 2017-18 league table are also — and perhaps inevitably — taken by JNV schools, managed by the Central government-promoted Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. Over the past three decades since the first two experimental JNV schools were constructed in 1985 in Amravati (Maharashtra) and Jhajjar (Haryana) districts, the country’s 594 JNVs, which offer class VI-XII education to 240,000 best rural students, have built an enviable academic reputation. According to an Evaluation Study on the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (March 2015) published by the Delhi-based NITI Aayog, “Navodaya’s average pass percentage is higher than the national average of other schools affiliated to CBSE” and equivalent to the Kendriya Vidyalayas. 

Ranked #4 this year is JNV, Chennithala, Alapuzha, Kerala (#2 in 2015 and #4 in 2016). “In 2015 we were ranked #2 and hence are disappointed with our #4 rank this year. We want to be ranked the #1 school next year. At JNV Alapuzha our prime focus is academics with students given all help and coaching to excel in school and board exams. However, we also ensure that our students participate in extra-curricular and sports activities to enable their all-round development,” says P. Vickraman Nair, principal of JNV, Alapuzha (Kerala) which has an enrolment of 490 students and 41 teachers.

Odeal D’Souza

Also read: India’s best Government Day & Boarding Schools 2018-19