Big Move! Sainik Schools to admit Girls

Insight Bureau:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Sunday that girl students would be able to enroll in Sainik Schools across the country.

The Prime Minister made the statement while addressing to the nation from the Red Fort in New Delhi on the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence, “The government has decided that doors of every Sainik School will now be open for girl children.”

He went on to say that he had been receiving inquiries from girls all throughout the country who wanted to study at Sainik Schools. He added that, “I used to get messages from lakhs of daughters that they too want to study in Sainik Schools, the doors of Sainik Schools should be opened for them too. About 2-2.5 years ago, the experiment of admitting girls was done for the first time in Sainik School in Mizoram.”

Sainik schools are managed by the Sainik Schools Society, which is overseen by the Ministry of Defence. The goal of creating Sainik schools was to prepare kids for entrance into the Indian armed services from an early age.

An annual admission examination is used to select students for Sainik Schools. They are admitted into the curriculum at the middle school level. Students at these schools get rigorous training in sports, adventurous activities, extracurricular topics, and routine academics until they complete their secondary education, with the goal of preparing them for military training institutes.

In the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2021-22, a provision was made for the establishment of 100 new Sainik Institutions in collaboration with NGOs, private schools, and states. Top retired military leaders applauded the move but stressed that the institutions’ structures should not be tampered with.