Washed away in Leh floods: A bright future Chandigarh Navodaya topper among victims

                 Thirty-five years old Stanzan Dolma has only memories left of her daughter Denchen, a Class VIII topper from Chandigarh’s Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Sector 25, where she had been studying since the last two years.
               
              Denchen Paldon is no more. On summer vacations to her native Choglamsar village in Leh, she got washed away in the floods that hit Ladakh on the night of August 6. Her mother and younger sister Skalzang survived, but only to be left as good as dead.

“The children were sleeping when the waters came in gushing around 11.35 pm. I barely managed to wake them up. It was as though the sky had left open all pipes. Denchen went off in seconds. People were flying away into the water. In 20 minutes, everything was razed,” recalls Stanzan, huddled in one corner of Himank relief camp at Choglamsar, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi visited this week.
Until that fateful night, everything was going well for this family, having braved odds for years. Abandoned by her husband, Stanzan took upon herself to educate her daughters. She sent them to Chandigarh Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 29, under the Scheduled Tribe category. Soon, Denchen cracked the CBSE all-India test to enter Class VI at Chandigarh JNV. Her sister followed suit this year and was to return for admissions when the tragedy struck. Ironically, both would have been back by August 1 had their mother not extended the stay.


                           Now, she can’t stop cursing herself as memories come gushing by: “The sisters were so excited. I was also relieved as JNV has a hostel and I would have saved the money I spent on children’s rent in Chandigarh. For their sake, I sold vegetables, did all kinds of odd jobs… Everything is finished now,” Stanzan breaks down, seeking sponsorship for her younger daughter who is in trauma after losing her sibling, her soul mate. Also, she is haunted by a constant fear of the floods. “What if waters take away my mother too?” says the girl, as The Tribune offered to take her back to her school.


                            In Chandigarh, JNV principal Pawan Kumar Sharma today heard the news of Denchen’s death from this correspondent. He said, “We sent several letters on Denchen’s Leh address wondering where she was. She left in June for holidays. We are shocked to hear this. She was brilliant and very sober. It’s a huge loss to us.”


                             The school has assured that though admission deadline for entry to Class VI expired today, it would write to the CBSE to treat Skalzang’s case with the compassion it deserves. The JNV has sought from The Tribune a letter about the tragedy involving the family.


                           Stanzan is, meanwhile, hoping someone would assume the guardianship of her child till the time she pieces her life together. She can’t leave Leh until land claims are sorted out.

Business Today Coverage of Navodaya - Schools Of Hope

Visiting Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) at Patiala and Shimla, two of the 560 such residential schools run by the central government in as many district of India, one meets pupils who are hugely talented but come from distinctly disadvantaged backgrounds. For schools located in rural areas and serving such children, JNVs seem to be shining, surpassing their more privileged urban counterparts. In terms of pass percentage in CBSE exams conducted for 10th and 12 classes, JNV boys and girls have been beating students of not just other government schools but also the much more privileged children from private schools. M.S. Khanna, Joint Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), the government agency that manages these schools, says that thousands of JNV alumni have excelled in the hardest competitive exams and the got the best jobs. Here are first-person accounts of some of them.

And here are  Some of the Dignities  From Navodaya

1.

Arjun Singh (29) Vice President, GTS Technology, Citibank, N.A., Jersey City "A lot goes to the JNV for shaping me to what I'm today" I was born in a small village called Amarpur in Meerut district of UP. My father was earning as little as Rs 800 per month from his daily labour." My family was very happy when I joined JNV at Sardhana in Meerut district in 1988 as education was free there. They were confident that the school would give me a much better environment than the village, which was hardly conducive to any worthwhile education. After passing out of JNV in 1995, I got admission in BITS-Pilani from where I was selected by Citicorp Overseas Software Ltd (COSL) as part of campus placement. Located in US, now, I'm the Vice President of global IT projects, Citigroup. A lot goes to the JNV for shaping me to what I'm today.

2.

Nirmal Prakash(29) Join MD, Smarftech "I'd not have broken free from my circumstances without JNV" "I was born in Barheta village of Darbhanga district in Bihar. It was a life of struggle. In retrospect, making it to JNV was the biggest moment of my life. A couple of other boys who were at JNV with me came from one of the poorest families in our village. These boys were so poor that they didn't have a rupee to spend in all the years of their stay at JNV beyond what they were provided free at the school. We were absolutely astonished to see the facilities at the JNV - well furnished classrooms, labs, mess, and hostels. More importantly, the cross-cultural environment at JNV helped us gain confidence. Our teachers came from various states. Our school merged all caste divisions that characterise our society. In 1998, I cleared IIT. From there I got selected for Muehlbauer, a German RFID technology provider. In 2007, I joined Smarftech as joint MD. I'd not have broken free from my circumstances without JNV.

3.

Rajendra Meena (32) IRS Officer, Central Excise "The turning pointing in my life was my admission to JNV" I was born in a desert hamlet called Thikariya Bajana in Nagore district of Rajasthan. There were no schools in the vicinity. So I went to live with one of my uncles in Jaipur. The JNVs were considered quality schools as they were run by the central government on CBSE curriculum. More importantly, however, they provided free education. That was a big thing for poor families. So my family rejoiced when I got admission into JNV-Jaipur in 1986. For them it was like a scholarship-free and good education. In those days the amenities and infrastructure at JNV-Jaipur was still in the making. Some old buildings were taken up. Power supply was erratic and even food grants were scanty. Despite these problems, JNV was a great school for us poor rural kids. My school sheltered me from the discriminations and divisions of our society. In 2000, I cleared the UPSC exam for the Railways where I worked for some years. In 2004, I got selected in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). The turning pointing my life was my admission to JNV. So I credit most of my success to JNV.

4.

Flight Lieutenant Rajani Boyapati (27) Project Manager, Goldstone Tech "JNV turned me into a smarter, more self-confident person" I was born in Ghanatasala village of Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district in a lower middle class family. My father was a farmer and mother a housewife. I have one sibling. When I was in fifth class, one of my teachers told me about JNV, which were considered quality schools. One of their merits was the CBSE curriculum, which was regarded as more rigorous than the state board curriculum. The greatest advantage of these schools was that they provided free education, boarding and lodging. My father could never have been able to afford the kind of education I got at JNV. So my parents were happy when I got selected. It was indeed a process of continuous improvement at JNV. I was at 3rd position in the 12th class. I secured a great academic foundation for higher education. I later did BTech (Electronics & Communication Engineering) from S.V. Hindu College of Engineering at Machilipatnam ( Krishna district). By the time I completed my BTech, I got selected in Short Service Commission and joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) as an engineer and was designated as a flight lieutenant. I worked at IAF from July 2001 to July 2007 and then joined the Hyderabad-based Goldstone Technologies as a project manager. JNV turned me into a smarter, more self-confident person. That was the turning point.

5.

Rahul Mehta (12) 7th grade student, JNV Patiala "Rural kids shine at Navodaya Vidayalayas" Rahul Mehta (12) looks like a normal school kid except that his family background will make a sociologist very interested. This seventh-class student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Patiala (Punjab), who comes across as intelligent and sincere, belongs to a family that most Indians never associate with the ones whose boys go on to become IAS officers. (That's what Rahul wants to become.) Rahul's father runs a fruit juice stall and mother is a housewife. One of his two brothers studies in a government-run local school and the other works as 'compounder' in a doctor's clinic in a semi-urban area in Zirakpur (Punjab). Rahul, however, has the heart and mind to remain focussed on his studies. In sixth class - his first year at JNV-Patiala - he secured 95.3 per cent marks in aggregate. His scores in both science and maths: 100 per cent.

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Navodayas on Culture Course

Navodaya Vidyalayas, the chain of Centre-run residential schools, will diversify from regular courses and start cultural schools to help students develop and nurture their skills in music, dance and drama. Four such schools focusing on the performing arts will be set up. The training will enhance the aesthetic sensibilities of students and make them self-sufficient. After the courses, they can take up jobs or pursue further studies.              The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti’s executive body, headed by Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal, has approved the plan and has asked the organisation to submit a detailed proposal, ministry sources told. Under the proposal drawn up so far, there will be four years of schooling starting from Class IX. Students will study parts of general courses such as math, science and literature in Classes IX and X. But in Classes XI and XII, they will focus on culture.                 The students will organise exhibitions and programmes. Another key objective behind such schools is that they will help strengthen the cultural roots and preserve national heritage.                     The schools will encourage children to develop a taste in classical music, dance, folk forms, theatre and art. Students who are good in music will be given admission through a talent search.                     The diversification does not end with culture. The Navodaya Samiti has also decided to start what are now being described as “10 science magnet schools” which will be dedicated to science subjects.                These will be located near the scientific institutions and research laboratories. Students passing out from these schools will pursue advanced scientific research. This proposal is set to go to the Union cabinet soon.               The 594 Navodaya schools, which mainly target the rural poor, are regarded as islands of excellence. About 97 per cent students of these schools pass the board exam every year. About 74 per cent are from families with an annual income less than Rs 48,000.                           The Navodaya samiti has argued that about 4 to 5 per cent children in every community are gifted students who need to be identified and provided with quality education.

IAS Exam Success: This Guys from NAVODAYA did it - so can you

                Ten days after making the grade, Vinod's eyes still well up every time his illiterate father talks to visitors or telephone callers about his son's hard won success in clearing the Indian civil services exam.

                 Every time the retired unskilled labourer Janardan praises his son - an MBBS doctor who will now be an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer - for his perseverance and toil, the grateful son says his success is nothing compared to the backbreaking labour his father put in all his life to educate his sons. 

With his parents in their thatched house in village Visapur near Chandrapur, 160 km from here, Vinod Bahade recalls all his yesteryears - in the Zilla Parishad school in his village, then the Navoday Vidyalaya in Talodhi Balapur nearby, and then the junior college in the bigger colliery township of Ballarpur .

"As I pored over my books in dim lantern light every night, my father would say he would do anything to see me become a doctor or an engineer. I wondered where he was going to bring the money from for my education," Vinod reminisced.

"When I actually passed my school exam with marks enough to secure admission to a medical college, my father, who was a labourer in BILT (Ballarpur Industries Ltd) sought voluntary retirement and reserved his Provident Fund for my education," Vinod told IANS with an unmistakable lump in his throat.

Even while studying medicine, Vinod did not entirely give up the idea of becoming an IAS officer (that he had toyed with while in junior college) though he thought he could serve the society as a doctor as well.

"But the stark poverty and backwardness I saw as an intern in the rural hospital in Narkhed (in Nagpur district) and as a medical officer in Jimalgatta, an inaccessible tribal village in Gadchiroli district, firmed up my resolve to operate on a larger canvass. I started preparing for the civil services exam," he said.

Vinod passed the prelims and mains in the very first attempt in 2004 but lost out by a whisker in the personal interview.

In the second attempt, which he could take only after another stint as an medical officer, he failed again but persevering still, he had yet another go at it - and was through this time.

Gratefully acknowledging the valuable guidance he received from the P.N. Rajbhoj Institute for IAS Coaching, run by a retired bureaucrat Mumshilal Gautam in Nagpur, and the government IAS coaching centre in Mumbai, both meant for poor and backward class students, Vinod says the time has come to repay the debt.

                         They have stars in their eyes, compassion in heart