Presiding over a webinar on Sainik Schools, Singh said, “The establishment 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 several steps have been taken in that direction, including paving the way for girls to enter Sainik Schools and providing permanent commission to women officers. He expressed confidence that the decision to set up new Sainik Schools would encourage girls to realize their dreams of serving the nation.
The Defense Minister 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 the overall development of the country.
He expressed hope that the amalgamation of Defense and Teaching Sainik Schools would play an important role in nation building in the times to come.
He said, “While ‘Sainik’ is a symbol of unity, discipline and devotion, while ‘School’ is the center of education, therefore Sainik Schools are playing an important role in making children capable citizens.
He further said that the government is focusing on providing quality education to the youth of the country as it lays a solid foundation for the all round development of the society.
“Quality education is the fourth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. There are many other goals under ‘Quality Education’. It has been our strong political commitment to achieve these goals. Several schemes, education campaigns are being run. Establishment of 100 new Sainik Schools is another important step in that direction.
He lauded the Sainik School Society for implementing visionary ideals like Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who laid emphasis on physical, mental, moral and spiritual development of children along with academic education.
He appreciated the fact that Sainik Schools has so far contributed to the recruitment of more than 7,000 officers in the Armed Forces and has given the country officers like former Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor (Retd) and General Dalbir Singh Suhag (Retd). Besides the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr. Neiphiu Rio; Former RBI governor D Subbarao and film director Rakesh Roshan.
Singh described education as a major sector which plays a role in the development of all other sectors, calling upon the private sector to join hands with the government to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ in the sector and ensure holistic development of children.
“Today our country is moving fast on the path of self-reliance in every field. It is scaling new heights in sectors like defence, health, communication, industry and transport due to synergy of public and private sectors. Education sector is needed. For revolution in the world and for the holistic development of children. This is possible only when there is strong cooperation of defence, education and private sector. This webinar is the cornerstone of this partnership,” he urged privately in the government’s initiative to expand Sainik Schools. area to join.
He further suggested that the Defense Department and the 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 to the nation as this will help in building their character and benefit the country,” he said.
A webinar was organized for stakeholder consultation to develop a sound Qualification Requirement (QR), Affiliation Bye-laws, Association of Memorandum (MoA) and additional curricula to ensure smooth implementation of the initiative.
Chief of the Army Staff General MM Naravane, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary, Chief of the Navy Admiral R Hari Kumar and Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Smt. Anita Karwal were among those who virtually participated in the seminar.
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