To groom youngsters to join the armed forces, a new Sainik School has been proposed at Chandrapur in Vidarbha. Maharashtra already houses a Sainik School at Satara, which was founded in 1961 as the first among a chain of 24 such institutions in the country.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The state government has approved a resolution in the legislative assembly for sending a proposal to the defence ministry for establishing a second Sainik School in Maharashtra. A 150-acre land parcel on the Chandrapur-Ballarpur highway is being considered for the project.

Affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Sainik Schools are feeder institutions for defence academies and provide quality public school education to students, including those from weaker sections.

The proposed school will give opportunities to students from Maharashtra and meet the rising demand for such education. Incidentally, Sainik School Satara sees students from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh aspiring to get in despite their states having over one Sainik School. It also caters to applicants from Goa.

"Maharashtra will stand to benefit from this... youth from Maharashtra can get into this sector," said finance minister and Chandrapur guardian minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who has pushed the proposal. Mungantiwar, who wrote to defence minister Manohar Parrikar, also surveyed the land with Lt Gen RR Nimbhorkar, general officer commanding, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa area.

"The contribution of Sainik schools is extra-ordinary," Nimbhorkar, an alumni of the Sainik School Satara, told dna, pointing to how its students had excelled across sectors.

Out of the 6,114 students who have passed out from Sainik School Satara, around 1,900 have joined the officers cadre in the defence services and many have made it to the IAS and IPS. Some of its alumni include Air Chief Marshal (Retd) PV Naik, Air Marshal AP Garud, Lt Gen (Retd) PR Gangadharan, Lt Gen Rajiv V Kanitkar.

While the admission strength at Sainik School Satara was around 100 since 1961, a much larger number of candidates aspire to get in. Sainik schools admit boys to Standard VI and IX. Spread over 114.78 acres, Sainik School Satara has around 620 boarders.

Though the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government (1995-1999) had permitted Sainiki Shalas on lines of these Sainik Schools, officials admit that the contribution of these schools to the armed forces is low. Maharashtra has 41 such Sainiki Shalas — almost one in each district and five schools for girls at the divisional level (Nagpur, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Dhule and Pune).It also has one un-aided Sainiki Shala for girls at Jalgaon.What is a Sainik School?Sainik Schools impart specialised training and personality development to students to help them get into the officers cadre in the armed forces. Serving officers from the Army, Air Force and Navy are posted in these institutions on a tenure basis.