Admission in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas is done in sixth grade through selection test every year. Vacant seats in classes IX & XI are filled through lateral entry. For admission to 48,000 seats in Class VI, 3046506 candidates, including 46.19 per cent girls, 19.05 per cent SC, 29.23 per cent ST and 83.91 per cent rural candidates have registered through online mode. Applicant seat ratio for the current session is 63:1. Admission test in respect of summer bound JNVs was conducted in 8,252 centres covering 561 districts smoothly on Saturday. This is one of the biggest examinations conducted for the selection of students, predominantly from rural areas.
As per the admission policy, 75 per cent of the seats in a district are filled by candidates selected from rural areas at block level and remaining seats are filled from open merit of the district. Reservation of seats in favour of children belonging to SC and ST is provided in proportion to their population in the district concerned, provided that in no district, such reservation will be less than the national average (15 per cent for SC and 7.5 per cent for ST) but subject to maximum of 50 per cent for both the categories (SC& ST) taken together. Minimum 33 per cent of the total seats are filled by girls.There is a provision for reservation for Divyang children as per GOI norms.The NVS system has successfully served the purpose of deprived section of the population. At present 40 per cent students are girls. In case of SC and ST, it is presently 44 per cent of total strength. Last year 93 per cent of admitted candidates were rural students.