New Delhi.03,Jan 2019: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has constituted a task force to find out reasons of reported suicides of 49 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).
The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are fully residential schools managed and run by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous organization under the HRD Ministry.
Recently, media reports said that 49 students of the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas committed suicide between 2013 and 2017.
Taking cognizance of the incidents of suicides by the students of JNVs, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a Task Force under the Chairmanship of Dr. Jitendra Nagpal, Psychiatrist.
The task force will look into the circumstances leading to the suicidal deaths of students residing in the hostels of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas residential schools. The task force will also suggest ways and means to arrest the trend of suicides by students of JNVs.
Besides, the Ministry has sent a proposal to engage two full time counselors (one male and one female) in each of the 630 functional JNVs to the Department of Expenditure for approval.
Notably, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recently issued a notice to the HRD Ministry over the reported suicide of 49 students in five years.
Prasanta Patnaik