Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) is a network of central schools in India catering to talented students,
mainly from rural areas, who face barriers to accelerated learning due to financial, social, and rural disadvantages.
Managed by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti in Noida, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education,
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliates these fully residential, co-educational schools, offering classes from VI to XII.
The Ministry of Education funds all activities at JNVs, and students receive free education during the initial three years of their stay. Starting from class IX, a nominal monthly fee of ₹600 applies to general and OBC caste students.
JNVs operate throughout India, except in Tamil Nadu. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 2,87,568 students were enrolled in 661 JNVs, with around 87% coming from rural areas. In 2022, JNVs achieved top rankings among CBSE schools, boasting a pass percentage of 99.71% and 98.93% in 10th and 12th grades, respectively.
Unfortunately, Tamil Nadu does not permit the establishment of such schools tailored for rural students.
List of schools JNV:
| List of JNV schools | |
| Regions (no. of JNVs) | States/UTs (respective no. of JNVs) |
| Bhopal (113) | Chhattisgarh (28), Madhya Pradesh (54), Odisha (31) |
| Chandigarh (59) | Chandigarh(1), Himachal Pradesh (12), J&K (21), Ladakh (2), Punjab (23) |
| Hyderabad (77) | A & N Islands (3), Andhra Pradesh(15), Karnataka (31), Kerala (14), Lakshadweep (1), Puducherry (4), Telangana (9) |
| Jaipur (65) | Delhi (9), Haryana (21), Rajasthan (35) |
| Lucknow (89) | Uttarakhand (13), Uttar Pradesh (76) |
| Patna (85) | Bihar (39), Jharkhand (26), West Bengal (20) |
| Pune (73) | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (1+2), Goa (2), Gujarat (34), Maharashtra (34) |
| Shillong (100) | Arunachal Pradesh (18), Assam (28), Manipur (11), Meghalaya (12), Mizoram (8), Nagaland (11), Sikkim (4), Tripura (8) |
The government has sanctioned a total of 661 functional residential schools in 638 districts of India, including some special case institutes. Eight regional offices, each with jurisdiction over different states and Union Territories, administer these schools.
Admission Process:
- Admission to Class VI in JNVs requires passing the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test (JNVST).
- The CBSE designs develops, and conducts the JNVST entrance exam.
- The test is held annually nationwide to select the top 80 students for each JNV.
- JNVST has three phases per year, depending on the session structure in a specific state or union territory.
- Students can apply for the test only once during their Class V.
- In JNVST 2021, 2,41,7009 students appeared, and 47,320 were selected (about 2% pass percentage).
- The exam covers mental ability, mathematics, and the regional language.
- JNVs follow a reservation policy, including quotas for ST, SC, and OBCs, 75% selection from rural areas, 25% from urban areas, 33% for female students, and 3% for disabled candidates.
- To fill vacant seats and manage attrition, JNVST is also conducted for Class IX admissions and lateral admissions for students passing 10th from the school.
- This process helps JNVs select talented students and maintain diversity in their student population.
Eligibility Conditions and Composition of the Test :
Eligibility Conditions :
For All Candidates:
- Only candidates from the district where the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is located can apply for admission.
- If a district with a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya undergoes division, eligibility considers the old district boundaries until authorities establish a new Vidyalaya in the newly bifurcated district.
- Candidates seeking admission must study in Class-V in a Government/Government-aided or recognized school in the same district where they seek admission.
- An authorized agency on behalf of the government or the government must officially recognize the school.
- Candidates with a ‘B’ certificate from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) should have NIOS accreditation for the school.
- Successful completion of Class V is a prerequisite for actual admission to Class VI.
- The candidate’s age must be between 9 to 13 years, irrespective of their category (including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes).
- Candidates claiming admission through the rural quota must have studied and passed Classes III, IV, and V in a government-aided or recognized school in a rural area.
- Urban area candidates are those who have studied in an urban area school, as defined in the 2001 Census or subsequent government notifications.
- A candidate not promoted to Class-V before September 30th is ineligible to apply.
- No candidate can appear in the Selection Test for a second time under any circumstances.
Reservation for Rural, SC/ST, Girls & Disabled Children
- Candidates selected from rural areas will fill at least 75% of the seats in a district, and the remaining seats will be filled from the urban areas of the district.
- There is a provision for the reservation of seats for SC and ST candidates in proportion to their population in the district but not less than the national average of 1/3 of the seats reserved for female students.
- There is a provision for reservation of 3% seats for disabled children (i.e. Orthopedically Handicapped, Hearing Impaired, and Visually Handicapped).
Composition of the test
The medium of the Test (JNVST) will be in any language out of 21 languages as notified.
| Exam. Papers of JNVST Class-VI | ||
| Subject | Time | Weightage |
| No. of Students on Rolls | 2,53,931 | |
| Mental Ability | 60 Minutes | 50 % |
| Arithmetic | 30 Minutes | 25 % |
| Language | 30 Minutes | 25 % |
| Medium/ Languages in which JNVST is Conducted | |||
| S.No | Language | S.No | Language |
| 1 | Assamese | 12 | Marathi |
| 2 | Bengali | 13 | Mizo |
| 3 | Bodo | 14 | Nepali |
| 4 | English | 15 | Odia |
| 5 | Garo | 16 | Punjabi |
| 6 | Gujarati | 17 | Sindhi (Arabic) |
| 7 | Hindi | 18 | Tamil |
| 8 | Kannada | 19 | Telugu |
| 9 | Khasi | 20 | Urdu |
| 10 | Malayalam | 21 | Sindhi (Devanagri) |
| 11 | Manipuri | ||