Admission to the school is based on the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test, an annual exam conducted each year by the CBSE for admission to Class VI. The largely non-verbal test is designed to prevent disadvantage to children from rural areas. Lateral admissions are accepted for classes IX and XI; the lateral-entry system is designed to fill vacancies from the withdrawal of children admitted to class VI.
Eligibility
Since the Vidyalayas have the objective of providing opportunity and education to underprivileged children from rural areas, the entrance examination has eligibility criteria. They require the student to be:
A class-V student in a government-recognised school
From nine to 13 years old
A student of III, IV and V in a rural government-recognised school, to apply under the rural quota
A first-time taker of the entrance exam
Reservation
Seats are reservedfor the children of rural areas. At least, 75 percent of the seats of district are filled by candidates selected from rural areas and remaining seats are filled from the urban areas of the district. Reservation of seats for children in Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is provided in proportion to their population in the district. These reservations are interchangeable, and candidates are selected by merit. Efforts are made to ensure that one-third of the seats are filled by girls.
Student life
Academics
All subjects except Hindi are taught in English, and an additional language is also taught to students in classes six to nine. All students attend daily physical training and games, followed by evening roll call. Classes begin at 8 am, and end at 1:30 pm. There are eight periods before lunch; remedial classes are held after lunch, in which students do homework and question teachers.
Hostel life
Students are housed in four one-gender dormitories: Udaygiri, Aravalli, Nilgiri and Shivalik. Each is supervised by a house master and associate house master. Students have breakfast in the morning, lunch, an evening snack and dinner. Films are shown for two or three days monthly.
Games and sports are encouraged to develop fitness and promote co-operation and sportsmanship. Hostel students are issued carrom board. Student physical training is prioritized. Morning PT includes jogging, yoga, mass drills and discipline-specific coaching. Evening sessions begin at 4:30 pm, and last for two hours. There are facilities for football, volleyball, basketball, handball, kho kho, cricket and indoor games such as badminton, table tennis and chess. The school sends at least two players each year to represent Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti at the national level in School Games Federation of India tournaments. Children participate successfully in the district amateur athletics and rural games meets.
Student exchange
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools exchange students from one school in a linguistic region to another in a Hindi region to promote understanding of the diversity of India's culture and people. The school has exchanged students with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam. Thirty percent of class-nine students are exchanged between schools.
Curriculum
In addition to mathematics, science, social studies, English, Hindi and Malyalam, students are trained in music, fine arts, computer science and Socially Useful Productive Work. Youth Parliament sessions are conducted. Competitions are held in science, fine arts and games, the winners of which compete at the regional and national levels.
