In Sainik School enrolment, Haryana among top three states

Tribune News Service

Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, March 28

Haryana is among the top three states in the country which have the highest number of students studying in Sainik Schools that function under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The strength of the students enrolled in Sainik schools in Haryana is 1,163, according to data placed by the MoD in the Rajya Sabha today. There are two Sainik Schools in the state, located at Kunjpura near Karnal and Rewari.

Girls allowed admission

• Karnataka tops the list with 1,274 students in these schools
• UP is the only state to have three Sainik Schools
• All Sainik schools have started admitting girls from the academic 2021-22 session
• Now, seven new schools will be day-boarding type

Karnataka tops the list with 1,274 students studying in Sainik schools, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 1,184 students. Both these states have two Sainik schools each. Uttar Pradesh is the only state to have three Sainik schools, but the total strength of students from this state is only 709, which falls somewhere in the middle of the list.

There are a total of 33 Sainik schools in 24 states and Union Territories across the country, having a total student strength of 17,234. Following a recent shift in policy, all Sainik schools have started admitting girls from the 2021-22 academic session.

The total strength of girls in the 2021-22 session was 320 and for the 2022-23 session, there are 335 vacancies for girls, according to the MoD’s statement in Parliament today.

The admission of girls was first started on a pilot basis in Sainik School Chhingchhip during 2018-19. On the pilot being successful, 10 per cent of vacancies in Class VI or 10 seats, whichever is higher, have been earmarked for girls in all Sainik schools.

Conceived in 1961 and managed by the Sainik Schools Society under the MoD as feeder institutes for the armed forces, these schools take in students at the level of Class VI and prepare them mentally and physically for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA). Their alumni have attained the highest positions in the armed forces as well as the civil society.

Recently, the MoD initiated a move to establish 100 more boarding Sainik schools in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. As a first step towards this end, the MoD last week approved the setting up of 21 new Sainik schools in partnership with NGOs, private schools

and state governments across India. These include one school each at Fatehabad in Haryana, Patiala in Punjab and Solan in Himachal Pradesh.

While 12 new schools will be managed by NGOs, trusts or societies, six are private schools and three are state government-owned schools. Unlike the existing Sainik schools, which are purely residential, seven new schools will be day-boarding.

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