Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) is a system of central schools for students predominantly from rural areas in India, targeting socially and economically backward students who lack access to accelerated learning due to financial, social and rural disadvantages.

JNVs are fully residential and co-educational schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), with classes from VI to XII standard.

[15][16] Lakshadweep (1), Puducherry (4), Telangana (9) Gujarat (34), Maharashtra (34) Meghalaya (12), Mizoram (8), Nagaland (11), Sikkim (4), Tripura (8) Total 661 functional residential schools have been sanctioned in 638 districts of India with some special case institutes.

[14] Admission to Class VI of the JNVs requires qualification in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test (JNVST), an entrance exam designed, developed and conducted by the CBSE.

[18] JNVST for Class VI is conducted annually throughout the country to select the 80 most meritorious students for each JNV.

[18] Candidates can apply for the test only once during their Class V. Competition in the entrance exam can be gauged from the fact that in JNVST 2021, a total of 2,41,7009 students appeared and 47,320 students were selected (i.e. approx 2% pass percentage)[19] The test encompasses mental ability skills, mathematics, and regional language.

JNVs are known for their academic excellence,[21] which can be attributed to their merit-based entrance test and unique climate provided for otherwise disadvantaged children,[22] and which is further proven by their performance at board examinations.

Exhibitions are conducted at school, cluster, regional, and national levels, covering subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics.

[28] A smart class is typically equipped with an interactive Smartboard, laptops/tablets, Wi-Fi connectivity and power backup.

Teachers, chosen from across the country, live on the same campus and interact with students on a 24X7 basis leading to a familial feeling.

[31] One of the important features of the JNV scheme is the Migration Programme wherein two linked JNVs of different linguistic categories exchange students between them.

[24] According to the scheme, a selected 30% of Class IX students are exchanged between two linked JNVs of different linguistic categories (generally between Hindi-speaking and non-Hindi-speaking states) for one year.

[33] These Adarsha Vidyalayas would be CBSE-affiliated fully residential schools, provide free education, and target talented students through an annual entrance examination.

[34] Incidents of suicide among students and the lack of apparatus to engage with such issues concerning health and discrimination plague the schools.

[36][37] There is no system in place to report the cases of inadequate care and abuse by staff, much of attention from the school administration in the form of mundane bureaucratic procedures comes after the occurrence of violation.