By Press Information Bureau
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: “The setting up of 100 new Sainik schools will provide an opportunity to girls to join the Armed Forces and contribute to national security,” said Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh while chairing a webinar on Sainik Schools on Saturday. Shri Rajnath Singh said, the Government believes inincreasing the role of women in the Armed Forces and a series of steps have been taken in that direction, including clearing the way for admission of girls in Sainik Schools and providing Permanent Commission to women officers. He exuded confidence the decision to establish new Sainik schools will encourage girls to realise their dreams of serving the country.
The Raksha Mantri described the announcement of expansion of Sainik Schools as one of the many important decisions taken by the government in the last six-seven years to improve the quality of basic education of children and ensure holistic development of the country. He hoped that the amalgamation of Raksha and Shikshain Sainik schools will play an important role in nation-building in the times to come. He stated that while ‘Sainik’ signifies unity, discipline & devotion, ‘School’ is the centre of education, therefore, Sainik schools are playing a pivotal role in making children capable citizens.
Shri Rajnath Singh added that the Government is focussing on providing quality education to the youth of the country as it lays a solid foundation for the all-round development of society. “Quality education is the fourth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. There are several other goals under ‘quality education’. It has been our strong political commitment to achieve these goals. Several schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan are being run. Setting up of 100 new Sainik Schools is another important step in that direction,” he said.
The Raksha Mantri lauded the Sainik School Society for implementing the ideals of visionaries such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who had emphasised on physical, mental, moral and spiritual development of children along with academic education. He appreciated the fact that Sainik schools have contributed to the recruitment of more than 7,000 officers in the Armed Forces so far and have given the country officers like former Chiefs of the Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor (Retd) & General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retd), besides Nagaland Chief Minister Shri Neiphiu Rio; former RBI Governor D Subbarao and Film Director Rakesh Roshan.
Shri Rajnath Singh termed education as a key sector which plays a part in the development of all other areas, exhorting the private sector to join hands with the Government to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in the field and ensure holistic development of children. “Today, our country is moving fast in the path of self-reliance in every field. It is touching newer heights in fields like defence, health, communication, industry and transport due to the synergy between public and private sectors. There is a need for a revolution in the education sector and holistic development of children. This is only possible if there is a strong collaboration of defence, education and private sector. This webinar is a foundation stone of this partnership,” he said, urging the private sector to join the Government’s initiative of expansion of Sainik schools.
The Raksha Mantri reiterated that Government’s resolve to provide opportunities to the youth of the country. National Education Policy-2020; increase in the vacancies in National Cadet Corps; Khelo India, Start-up India and Fit India campaigns are some of the initiatives of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi through which the young & ignited minds of the country can realise their dreams; ensure overall development and take the country to newer heights, he said, adding that the setting up of new Sainik Schools will prove to be an important milestone in this direction.
Shri Rajnath Singh suggested Department of Defence and Sainik School Society to devise a mechanism for ranking all Sainik schools on the basis of their performance and audit. This, he said, will lead to a healthy competition among the schools, besides providing encouragement to try different innovations. He said, along with the curriculum, children should be exposed to patriotism and loyalty towards the Nation as it will help in building their character and benefit the country.
It may be recalled that the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in its meeting on October 12, 2021, had approved the proposal for launching of Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs/Private Schools/State-owned schools on affiliation basis with Sainik Schools Society. These schools would function as an exclusive vertical, which will be distinct and different from existing Sainik Schools. In the first phase, 100 affiliate partners were proposed to be drawn from States/NGOs/Private partners.
The webinar was organised to have stakeholder consultations to evolve a sound Qualifying Requirement (QR), Affiliation bye-laws, Memorandum of Association (MoA) and Additional Curriculum to ensure smooth implementation of the initiative.
A website in collaboration with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) was launched and the registration opened for affiliation on October 12, 2021. Till date, 137 applicants have registered on the web portal.
Chief of the Army Staff General MM Naravane, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar and Secretary Department of School Education and Literacy Smt Anita Karwal were among those who attended the seminar virtually.
