100 new Sainik schools to provide more opportunities for girls to join armed forces: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi [India], January 8 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday announced that 100 new Sainik schools will be set up in the country to provide an opportunity for girls to join the armed forces and contribute to national security.
While chairing a webinar on Sainik Schools, Singh said, "The setting up of 100 new Sainik schools will provide an opportunity to girls to join the Armed Forces and contribute to national security."
He said that the Government believes in increasing 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 Defence Minister described the announcement of the 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 the 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.
"While 'Sainik' signifies unity, discipline and devotion, 'School' is the centre of education, therefore, Sainik schools are playing a pivotal role in making children capable citizens," he said.
He further said that the Government is focussing on providing quality education to the youth of the country as it lays a solid foundation for the all-around 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 added.
He 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 the 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) and General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retd), besides Nagaland Chief Minister Shri Neiphiu Rio; former RBI Governor D Subbarao and Film Director Rakesh Roshan.
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 the holistic development of children. This is only possible if there is a strong collaboration of defence, education and the 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.
He further suggested Department of Defence and Sainik School Society devise a mechanism for ranking all Sainik schools on the basis of their performance and audit.
"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," he added.
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.
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.