Central School Push: 85 new Kendriya Vidyalayas, 13 in J&K; 28 Navodayas, N-E focus

Currently, apart from those newly approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday, there are 1,256 functional KVs and 653 functional JNVs.

The 85 new central schools will be established over a period of eight years starting from 2025-26, while the 28 JNVs will be set up over five years from 2024-25 to 2028-29. Collectively, these schools are expected to create additional enrollment capacity for nearly one lakh students and generate roughly 6,600 new posts for employment, the government said on Friday.

Although the new KVs are spread across 19 states and Union Territories, a senior government official explained the rationale behind the districts chosen for the new schools. “New Kendriya Vidyalayas are created based on demand, which means we usually establish a new school where there are at least 500 families of central government employees. For instance, in Jammu & Kashmir, a larger number has been approved to cater to the families of the many CRPF personnel posted there. To give you another example, in Andhra Pradesh we have approved a KV in a district where the revenue department has started a new training institution,” the official told The Indian Express.

Apart from J&K, Madhya Pradesh got 11 new KVs, followed by Rajasthan (9), Andhra Pradesh (8) and Odisha (8). Collectively, the above five states have cornered more than half of the new KVs green-lit on Friday.

“As for the JNVs, a large number has been sanctioned for three Northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur — a decision strategically aimed at opening more schools in border states of the region,” the official said. While 6 JNVs were cleared for Assam, Manipur got 3. Along with Arunachal Pradesh, they account for 17 of the 28 new JNVs.

The last two sizable tranches of new KVs approved by the Centre were in March 2019 (50) by the incumbent government and in February 2014 (54) by the UPA government, just ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, although all these KVs have started functioning, many are still operating from temporary premises.

“So this time, the Union Cabinet has decided that a new KV or new JNV will not start functioning, not even from a temporary premises, unless the land for the permanent campus of the institutions has been transferred by the state government or the Defence Ministry, whichever is applicable in the case,” the government official said.