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…