Not only hostel warden in the country’s best NVS schools, children are committing suicide, NCPCR sent notice

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has sent a notice to the commissioner of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS). In this notice, the NVS commissioner has been told that the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV)JNVAppoint Hostel Warden in . Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are model residential schools for talented children coming from rural India. In fact, cases of suicide are coming to the fore in Jawahar Vidyalayas. Because of this, NCPCR is looking worried. This is the reason that NCPCR has now sent a notice to the NVS commissioner.

The NCPCR had earlier sent similar notices to the Education Ministry’s Task Force on ‘Prevention of Suicide in JNVs’ in March 2019. In September this year too, NVS had also received a notice from NCPCR. In this, it was instructed that wardens should be appointed in every JNV branch. Explain that NVS is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Education, which is responsible for running JNVs across the country.

49 students committed suicide in 4 years

The most recent notice was sent by the NCPCR on November 24, which referred to a 2018 article in the English newspaper Indian Express. In this article, the suicide of students in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was investigated. NCPCR in its notice had also asked the NVS commissioner to send an action report within seven days.

The article, published on 24 December 2018, stated that between 2013 and 2017, 49 students committed suicide in JNVs. In this, more than half the students came from Dalit or tribal community. The number of such students was 25. It was told that the number of trend counselors in Navodaya Vidyalayas is very less and there is a lot of work pressure on the teachers. They also have to take care of the children.

There are no hostel wardens in the schools.

After the report came out, the Ministry of Education passed a resolution. In this, the proposal to appoint full-time counselors for more than 600 prestigious residential schools in rural areas was approved. However, till now hostel warden has not been appointed by the government in these schools. Because of this only the teachers who teach here have to work as ‘house masters’.

Teachers are also doing the work of taking care of the children. This is such a responsibility, teachers are facing difficulty in fulfilling it. The reason for this is that teachers are already under pressure of non-academic work.