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are admitted on merit after writ- professional career at Nampally to transform. It nurtures confidence,
ing a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Vyayamshala High School (1988- empathy, and the courage to ques-
Selection Test conducted by NVS, an 89) before signing up with the tion the status quo. JNVs enable
autonomous body under the Union JNV system in 1989 as a trainee children from rural India to stand
education ministry. teacher in Pune, and simultaneously shoulder to shoulder with the best
Newspeg. Earlier this year, a Centre completed a Masters in education at professionals worldwide.”
of Excellence for Para Sports Amaravati University. Subsequent Future plans. Under his guidance,
(COEPS) was established at JNV, postings in Amaravati, Hyderabad, NVS has drawn up plans to expand
Ranga Reddy, Telangana, under and JNV Ranga Reddy augmented the COEPS at JNV, Ranga Reddy to
Gopalakrishna’s leadership. This his teaching and administrative mentor 200 special needs children
initiative — the first-of-its-kind leadership skills. to participate in para-Olympics;
within the Navodaya system — Direct talk. “Every child deserves the strengthen public-private partner-
focuses on identifying and nurturing chance to discover her latent apti- ships for STEM and leadership de-
sporting talent among Children with tudes and skills. Sports education velopment; launch digital exchange
Special Needs (CWSN). Through an builds children’s self-belief and dig- and innovation platforms to connect
annual nationwide talent hunt and nity faster than any lecture can,” says JNV students globally and integrate
training camp, promising para- Gopalakrishna, adding that because NEP 2020-aligned vocational and
athletes from JNVs across India are of a difficult and deprived childhood, multilingual modules across all
selected for specialised coaching at “I lead not from a pedestal, but from JNVs. “Our dream is to make every
COEPS. shared experiences.” JNV a lighthouse of holistic educa-
History. Born and raised in Andhra A staunch believer that access to tion — where compassion meets
Pradesh, Gopalakrishna is an quality schooling is a great socio- competence, and rural talent meets
alumnus of the Regional Institute economic leveller, Gopalakrishna global opportunity,” says this dedi-
of Education, Mysore (1984-88). says that the well-rounded education cated para sports educator.
After graduation, he began his dispensed by JNVs has “the power Priyanka Edupuganti (Hyderabad)

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