Congress President Sonia Gandhi Inaugurates 31 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas…


UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi realized the dream of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by inaugurating 31 Jawahar Navadaya Vidyalayas(JNV) in a number of states, telling other government schools to learn from JNVs. National Advisory Council Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi today inaugurated the newly constructed buildings of 31 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas via video conferencing in various parts of India– Kerala, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. She was attended by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal at a function to mark the 25 years of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, one of the various landmark initiatives taken by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.Speaking on the occasion after inaugurating 31 Navodaya Vidyalayas in various parts of the country, Congress President said, “Everyone has a right to education and it is not limited to a few,” saying the Right to Education Bill (RTE) would address all issues pertaining to education in the country.

The UPA government under is giving scholarships for school students, she pointed out saying the information regarding the schemes must reach all.UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, however, expressed concern over the high drop rate and teacher absenteeism in government schools in rural areas, saying “the dropout rate, particularly amongst the minority and poor, is high and one fourth of the teachers in village schools remain absent.” She said teachers should strive to reach the level of the state-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, saying “education in these JNVs should meet the requirements of the changing times.”She could not hide her concern for the future of children, asking “why are other government schools not as good as Navodaya Vidyalays?” She said other government schools must learn from JNVs. “One-fourth of the teachers in village schools remain absent. Though admission takes place in good numbers, many children leave studies midway,” she pointed out.

She said the JNVs had been largely successful in attaining their objectives of providing good quality education to talented children from predominantly rural areas. However, she stressed upon the need to provide quality education to children with technical inputs.Traveling a time span of 25 years since coming into existence, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas has successfully realized the dream of its architect, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, by providing quality education to every village household. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are fully residential co-educational institutions imparting education from Class VI to XII . About 75 per cent seats are filled by candidates from rural areas. Children of SCs and STs category is provided reservation for the seats in proportion to their population in the concerned district, while one third of total seats are filled by girls.Sharing the occasion with UPA chairperson, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that it was the dream of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to educate children from backward areas of the countries. ” In this context the Government has decided to open a JNV in every district of the country, he informed.