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Gurdaspur Sainik School to see the light of day soon
The new school, delayed by a logjam between the Union ministry of defence and the Punjab government over pending paperwork for the Sainik School in Kapurthala, appears set to see finally progress as both sides have now agreed to the terms and conditions of their memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the existing school.
After remaining stuck in red tape for almost 15 years, the proposed Sainik School in Dalla Gorian village of Gurdaspur district could soon become a reality.
The new school, delayed by a logjam between the Union ministry of defence and the Punjab government over pending paperwork for the Sainik School in Kapurthala, appears set to see finally progress as both sides have now agreed to the terms and conditions of their memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the existing school.
Officials familiar with the matter said the Sainik Schools Society under the ministry of defence had accepted the draft MoA sent by the defence service welfare department of the state government. “The administrative department has now sent the file to the state government for its go-ahead following which the agreement will be signed,” they said.
The Sainik School in Gurdaspur was proposed by the Punjab government in December 2009, but the Sainik Schools Society decided that the state should first sign the MoA regarding the existing school in Kapurthala district. The agreement is signed between the state government and the defence ministry, outlining their roles, responsibilities and financial support in establishing and running Sainik Schools. The Sainik Schools Society is the nodal organisation for establishing and managing these schools across the country.
One of the officials quoted above said the state would push its proposal for the school in Gurdaspur after signing the agreement. He added that the agreement would entail an additional outgo of approximately ₹6 crore for the state government annually on account of staff salaries, pensions, etc. “The state government had identified a 40-acre plot for setting up the school. The central ministry also conducted the site survey in June 2017 and found it suitable for opening the school with a student strength of 250, but everything got stuck over the agreement for the school in Kapurthala,” said the official, who did not want to be named.
The Kapurthala Sainik School was established in 1961 as a feeder institution for the armed forces. The school has been a source of pride for the state government, with an impressive list of alumni. During the previous government, Manpreet Badal, the then finance minister, had met Union defence minister Rajnath Singh in 2021 and requested him to approve a school in Bathinda as well along with the one already proposed in Gurdaspur by the state government.
At present, there are 33 Sainik Schools in the country, with eight states having two or more of these prestigious institutions. The central government has also decided to set up 100 new Sainik Schools across the country in partnership mode with NGOs, state government schools, trusts and private schools. A total of 44 new Sainik Schools have been approved through the PPP mode, out of which 19 in Punjab, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and some other states have already started academic sessions, according to official information. In Punjab, the Sainik School under the new model has been set up in partnership with Dayanand Public School in Patiala.
