Seven new Navodaya schools in Telangana face delay in admissions

Despite Central approval in December 2024, seven new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in Telangana have not become operational. The schools have been excluded from JNVST 2026 admissions, leaving parents and students disappointed and questioning coordination between the Centre and State.

Hyderabad: Seven newly sanctioned Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in the State still remain only on paper. The JNVs will not only miss the forthcoming academic year, they will also not be admitting students for the academic year 2026-27.

The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, which recently issued the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test (JNVST) – 2026, did not include the newly sanctioned seven JNVs for admissions to Class VI for the academic year 2026-27.

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The Central government on December 6, 2024 approved seven JNVs with one each in Jagtial, Nizamabad, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Mahbubnagar, Sangareddy and Suryapet districts.

Students and parents anticipated that the admissions process would commence next academic year. However, the recent JNVST admission notification included only the existing nine schools in the State, dashing their hopes.

Educationists and parents argue that following the approval from the Central government, the Samiti and State government should have immediately initiated the process for the establishment of schools at least from temporary locations until the permanent buildings are constructed.

“There appears to be a lack of coordination between the Samiti and State government. At least, the schools should have commenced the class work temporarily from private engineering or other colleges,” Kalyani, joint secretary, Kranthi Keen Foundation, told ‘Telangana Today’.

According to sources in the Education department, the State government identified land for seven JNVs besides proposing temporary buildings.

“A central team recently visited the State and inspected the identified lands. As per general practice, they submit a feasibility report to the Central government. There could have been a communication gap in the Central government that resulted in the non-inclusion of the seven new JNVs in recent notification,” sources said.

Presently, there are nine JNVs with one each in Asifabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Nagarkurnool, Siddipet, Nalgonda, kamareddy, Rangareddy and Warangal districts. At least 75 per cent of the seats in a district will be filled by candidates provisionally selected from rural areas of that district. The remaining seats are open, which will be filled on merit from both urban and rural area candidates of the district as per selection criteria

The selection test for Class VI admissions to these schools for the academic year 2026-27 is scheduled for December 13, 2025. The last date to register online for selection via the website https://navodaya.gov.in is on or before July 29.