- During the Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up of 100 new Sainik Schools across the country in partnership with private entities.
- One district-one Sainik School cannot be achieved in a short time. To start with, one Kendriya Vidyalaya in districts with several KVs can be converted into a Sainik School.
- More than 80 countries in the world have different provisions for imparting military education in schools.
When Russia invaded east European country Ukraine early Thursday with airstrikes and artillery fire on Ukrainian military installations, Ukraine President Volodymir Zelenskyy asked civilians to take up arms to defend the country. “We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country. Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities,” he said in a tweet. “We will lift sanctions on all citizens of Ukraine who are ready to defend our country as part of territorial defense with weapons in hands,” Zelenskyy added in another tweet. Soon pictures of Ukrainians with weapons in hand began circulating on social media, indicating that the people of the European country were ready to fight against what they termed as an unjust invasion.
This brings our attention to the fundamental duties of Indian citizens as mentioned in Article 51A(d) of the Constitution. One of these duties is to “to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so”. For this, it has long been advocated that military education should be made compulsory in our schools.
Constituent Assembly member Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru advocated compulsory military education in 1959 so that the Indian youth was not only healthy but also prepared for defence of the country whenever required. Earlier, when the Scout Movement was not open to Indian boys, nationalist leaders offered Scouting activities to them through Sewa Samiti Scout Association formed by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru and Pandit Sriram Bajpai. This was aimed at providing young people with a value-based, attractive and challenging programme, through competent leaders, effective communication, optimum use of technology and efficient management. Pandit Kunzru was a votary of compulsory military education to shape the youth of the country into a disciplined lot who is loyal to its country.
More than 80 countries in the world have different provisions for imparting military education in schools. Israel has made military education compulsory in its schools. But India does this only through five Rashtriya Military Schools and 33 Sainik Schools. And these schools have only about 3,000 students.
During the Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up of 100 new Sainik Schools across the country in partnership with private entities. For running the new Sainik Schools on PPP (public-private partnership) mode, the central government invited applications from interested private parties until January 22 this year. Government received 230 applications but there were no applications from 13 states and union territories, making one wonder why there is such a lukewarm response to the scheme for opening new Sainik Schools and why the government cannot open new Sainik Schools on its own in every district of the country. This may be done in a phased manner but setting these schools up in PPP mode may not be a practical move.
We need to remember that India faces more internal and external security threats than most other countries. India has been facing insurgency in the form of terrorism and separatism for a long time. But India seems uninterested in preparing its citizens for the defence of the country. This is evident from the budget allocation to RMS and Sainik Schools. Last year, the Centre allocated Rs 60 crore for these 38 schools. Two central universities – Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University – got Rs 1001 crore and Rs 380 crore, respectively. We all know what goes on in these universities in the name of freedom of speech and expression.
Rashtriya Military Schools were established for education of the sons of defence personnel and later opened to civilians. Sainik Schools were started as residential educational institutions to give intelligent boys, especially from the rural areas, high levels of physical, mental and intellectual attainments for induction into the officer cadre of defence forces. These schools impart the three most essential qualities needed for a career in the armed forces: knowledge, discipline and esprit-de-corps. The then defence minister of India V. K. Krishna Menon conceived these schools in 1961 to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the officers of the Indian Military. Today, the 33 Sainik Schools and five RMS contribute about 30 percent officer cadets to the National Defence Academy (NDA). Sainik Schools and RMS have given more than 7,000 officers to the armed forces and several of the alumni have occupied high positions. But looking at the shortage of officers in the defence forces, the number of schools seems insufficient. For this reason, the government sought to open at least a hundred more.
The government realised that the problem of shortage of officers in the armed forces can be tackled effectively by opening more Sainik Schools because the first priority of students here is to join the defence forces. Every district of the country needs to have a Sainik School. India has 748 districts. And even after the new 100 schools, the country will have only 133. One district-one Sainik School cannot be achieved in a short time; this has to be a long process. To start with, one Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) in districts with several KVs can be converted into a Sainik School. This can be done with Navodaya Vidyalayas, too.
Currently, the Sainik School Society runs these schools. When the new schools are run on PPP mode, it might become a challenge to maintain the standards. There are chances that these schools become a source of income for their owners like the public schools are, defeating the purpose for which they have been opened.
Today, India needs an integrated and inclusive military education in view of its internal and border security situation. The Centre needs to prepare an effective policy for this because even the new education policy has stressed the need for education laced with upbringing and patriotism.
India needs to develop its young people to achieve their physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials. So that they are prepared to fulfil their fundamental duty of rendering national service when called upon to do so.
