India’s Best Government Day & Boarding Schools 2017-18

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)…