New Delhi India January 8 ANI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Saturday that 100 new Sainik schools will be set up in the country to allow girls to join the armed forces and contribute to national security.
Singh said while speaking about Sainik Schools, the setting up of 100 new Sainik schools will allow 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 a permanent commission to women officers.
He exuded confidence that the decision to establish new Sainik schools will encourage girls to realise their dreams of serving the country.
The Defence Minister described the expansion of Sainik Schools as one of the many decisions taken by the government in the last six-seven years to improve the quality of the education of children and ensure the holistic development of the country.
He hoped that the merger of Raksha and Shikshain Sainik schools will play an important role in nation building in the future.
While 'Sainik' means unity, discipline and devotion, 'School is the centre of education and Sainik schools are playing a pivotal role in making children capable citizens, he said.
He said that the Government is focused on providing quality education to the youth of the country as it lays a solid foundation for the all round 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''. Our political commitment has been to achieve these goals. Several schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan are being run. He said that setting up of 100 new Sainik Schools is another important step in that direction.
He applauded 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 and have given them 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 said education is a key sector which plays a role in the development of all other areas, exhorting the private sector to join with the government to achieve 'Aatmanirbharta' in the field and ensure holistic development of children.
Our country is moving fast in the direction of self-reliance in every field. There is a synergy between the public and private sectors that are touching newer heights in areas like defence, health, communication, industry and transport. 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 between defence, education and the private sector. He said that the webinar is a foundation stone of the partnership, and he urges the private sector to join the Government's initiative to expand Sainik schools.
He suggested that the 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 held to have stakeholder consultations to develop a sound Qualifying Requirement bye-laws, Memorandum of Association MoA and Additional Curriculum to ensure smooth implementation of the initiative.