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.