Navodaya Vidyalayas saw 49 suicides in the last 5 years, half of them Dalit and tribal students: RTI

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, known for producing the best results in board examinations have seen close to 50 suicides by students on campus in just five years, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. As per the data accessed under RTI, out of the 49 suicides from 2013 to 2017, half were by Dalit and tribal students, and a majority of them were boys. All, except seven, were suicides by hanging, and the bodies were discovered either by classmates or members of the school staff.

Interestingly, suicides peak in the three months following the two-month-long summer break that ends in July and during the examination season, that is, January, February and March. As per NVS commissioner Bishwajit Kumar Singh, the timing of suicides reflects that students, after spending considerable time at home during summer vacation, have a tough time adjusting to school life or that they are stressed over strained domestic relations.

The JNVs, which were started in 1985-86, have become a passport out of poverty for thousands of underprivileged children. In the past 6 years, these schools have consistently recorded a pass percentage of over 99 per cent in Class 10 and over 95 per cent in Class 12, which is far better than private schools and CBSE’s national average. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are central government-run residential schools for talented rural children.

However, according to data obtained by The Indian Express, 41 out of 46 Vidyalayas show that JNVs are facing a serious challenge. Currently, there are 635 JNVs with 2.8 lakh students. As on March 31, 2017, a total of 2.53 lakh students in the age group of nine to 19 were enrolled across roughly 600 JNVs. That same year, the number of suicides touched 14. Hence, the suicide rate, per population of 1,00,000, at JNVs for 2017 works out to 5.5.

In November 2016, the NVS shot off an 11-page circular, listing out ways to spot suicidal tendencies and prevent suicides on campus. The circular states that when a suicide takes place within the school premises, a JNV cannot escape responsibility.

As per the norms, at least 75 per cent of the seats in these schools are set aside for rural children. Therefore, a JNV is never sanctioned for a district with 100 per cent urban population. A Navodaya Vidyalaya starts from Class 6 and goes up to Class 12. All admissions in Class 6 are done through a merit test. The popularity of JNVs is evident from the fact that less than 3 per cent of the candidates appearing for the entrance test every year makes the cut.

In JNVs, seats are reserved for children from SC and ST communities in proportion to their population in the district where the school is located, but not less than the national average, which is 15 per cent for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs.