Sainik Schools Open for Girls

WHY IN THE NEWS?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address at the 75th Independence Day celebration, announced that Sainik Schools across India will now be open for female students as well.

About:

• This decision was taken following the messages from lakhs of female students that they also want to study in Sainik School.
• Girls were first allowed in Sainik schools of Mizoram about 2.5 years ago.

Sainik Schools

Sainik Schools are a system of schools that was established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society. It comes under the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The establishment of Sainik schools was led by V. K. Krishna Menon in 1961, who was the then Defence Minister of India.

Why Sainik Schools were established?

Sainik Schools were established in order to rectify regional and class imbalance amongst Officer cadre of the Indian Military. Schools were opened to prepare students mentally and physically to enter into the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Naval Academy (INA).

How many such schools are there?

As of now, there were 33 Sainik Schools. Now, MoD is set to establish 100 more boarding Sainik Schools in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Who run Sainik Schools?

MoD run Sainik Schools in association with the respective state governments. MoD provides funding and serving officers for the post of Principal while, State governments provide land, infrastructure and teaching & administrative employees.

Curriculum of Sainik Schools

Sainik Schools follow “CBSE Plus” curriculum by using CBSE curriculum with the additional aim of preparing children for entry into NDA and INA.