In a major decision, the Government on Friday allowed reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) students in the Sainik Schools of the country. This decision comes a year after the Defence Ministry opened the doors of these schools for girls.
There are more than 30 Sainik Schools, which works under the Ministry of Defence, in India. The first school was set up in 1960 to prepare students for entry into the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA).
The reservation for OBC students will commence from the next academic session commencing 2021-22. Announcing it through a tweet, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said 27 per cent seats in Sainik schools will be reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
“OBC reservation to be introduced in Sainik Schools from the year 2021-22,” Kumar said on Twitter and posted images of an October 13 circular that was sent to principals of all Sainik schools across the country.
The circular said 67 per cent of the seats in a Sainik school are reserved for candidates from the State or the Union Territory in which the school is located and the remaining 33 per cent is reserved for those who come from outside that state or Union Territory (UT). These two lists will be termed List A and List B.
The circular said within each list, 15 per cent seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 7.5 per cent seats are for Scheduled Tribes and 27 per cent seats are for non-creamy layer OBCs.
This decision comes an year after the Defence Ministry asked five Sainik Schools to admit girls from 2020-21. This step was taken after the pilot project of the Defence Ministry in Sainik School Chhingchhip, Mizoram was a success when six girl cadets were admitted into Class VI in June 2018.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved five Sainik Schools — Sainik Schools Bijapur, Chandrapur, Ghorakhal, Kalikiri and Kodagu — for these admissions.
It was Uttar Pradesh Sainik School (UPSS), the first Sainik School of the country established in 1960 which admitted 15 girl cadets in April 2018 in Class IX.
Students of Sainik Schools are called cadets like the trainees of the pre-commission military academies. The UPSS is the only Sainik School functioning under the State Government with the rest being run by the Defence Ministry.
The Ministry had issued directives to the principals to take steps to carry out adequate publicity through newspapers, websites and other means. Monitoring the registration strength vis-a-vis the capacity of exam centres, recruitment of exclusive staff, provision of infrastructure required for girl children and taking adequate steps are the other instruction to the Principals.
Saturday, 31 October 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
