Now that President Pratibha Patil has approved the Finance Bill 2008 on Saturday 10 May, 2008, there should be no delay from "the munificent finance minister" or any one else.
Come on, cough up the 'Rs 44 crore at the rate of Rs 2 crore each to the 22 Sainik Schools for immediate improvement of infrastructure including classrooms, laboratories, libraries and facilities for physical education'.
I studied in Sainik School, Korukonda in mid 90s and the atmosphere there was amazing. It was the dream of every student in our batch to join NDA. I remember the days when 10 to 12 students from every batch were selected to NDA. I hear from my school bulletin boards and other people that the students are not keen on joining sainik schools.
I am grateful to the author for making out a good case for the revival of Sainik schools and I hope that the central govt takes all these schools under their wing and promote them.
For all the talk about peace and prosperity,it is these 950,000 people who are safegaurding our lives expecting nothing but honor and respect in return.
When I was in class 4, I attempted to join Sainik school in class 6. I did not make it, but had great fun with many boys preparing for the exam and then going to Hazaribag in a group to take it.
Really enjoyed the experience. I had such a boyish enthusiasm to join sainik school.
Anyway I continued with the school I was in and in retrospect it was really good, as I learnt a lot.
Here we must also see other schools run by the government like Navodaya schools. evrything was given for free in the begining and the students were good too,but did they live up to the idea ? Still MHRD is spending crores on these schools.Are they worthwhile? Some sort of accountability must be there.
If Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata et al are lucky to be present and successful in India, why can't they help Sainik Schools and use their influence to advise government to give good salaries to armed personnel.
After all it is the guts of armed forces which stops the anti-nationals from entering in India.
RE:Tokenism won't revive Sainik Schools
by Prem Mohan on May 12, 2008 03:47 PM Permalink
I think there is a misconception here. The Sainik Schools are managed by the SSS. I don't think they can be given over to private individuals. Also, these private individuals have paid their taxes to the Government. It is for the government to utilise these taxes sensibly. Do you see any evidence of this around you?
RE:Tokenism won't revive Sainik Schools
by Sam on May 13, 2008 10:18 AM Permalink
Dear Mr. Bond,
Why do we expect our corporates to make up for the failures of our government (both central & state)? The primary role of business houses is to run business and not the country. For that, we have this humongous army of corrupt politicians and babus who have dubiuos capability but enjoy unearned privileges. Please take the government to task for its failure and do not expect the corporate world to take over the governence of the country. If that were to happen, do we need governments at all?
The principal aim of Sainik Schools is act as a feeder to Defence. Therefore the standard of the schools depend a lot upon the change of perspective towards Defence itself, over the years.
To uplift the standard of the schools I think two pronged strategy should be adopted. Sixth pay commission be revived to make the Defence more lucrative career. Secondly, the aim of the sainik schools be diversified. It should also focus upon producing students for other higher educational institutions like IITs etc. This need was felt way back in 1990s by our then Principal Cdr. S J Singh sir and we established a tradition of sending for instance three students from Vindhya House to IIT etc. This approach would further instil a sense of INTEREST in sainik schools and things should improve.
RE:SAINIK SCHOOLS
by on May 12, 2008 09:26 PM Permalink
No !!!
" To ensure mainly bright 9-year-old boys from the indigent strata joined these schools" .............................................. indigent
adjective
Having little or no money or wealth: beggarly, destitute, down-and-out, impecunious, impoverished, necessitous, needy, penniless, penurious, poor, poverty-stricken. Informal broke, strapped. Idioms: hard up, on one's uppers.
noun
An impoverished person: beggar, down-and-out, down-and-outer, have-not, pauper. ..................................
This was a bright, smart and secure way to create Future Officers from those who would have otherwise been Jawans.
Good Ole Arjun Singh will be very unhappy if he reads this and realises another Congress "loyalist", the then defence minister V K Krishna Menon, had 22 better and brighter ideas than Arjun Singh's tokenism for reservation quotas.
I was present in Kapurthala in summer of 1961, when Late KV Krishna Menon and then Punjab CM Pratap Singh Kairon inagurated first Saink School with lot of fun fare. I was a young boy of 9 years then. Defence Officers career was second to none, not even to IAS.
Today 47 years later I am in IT industry after taking premature retirement from Defence in disgust. Defence is no more a rewarding career either in terms of Money nor status it used to enjoy with respect to other Services. In other words, we have let down this important arm of the Union. Young students do not aspire to be in Defence and those within want to come out at first opportunity.
Sainik School malasie is another symptom, how we treat Defence. It is no vote catching machine. Therfore it is importnat to improve Sainik Schools but more importnat to make Defence as a career second to none and which every body will aspire to join.
It will be better to stop grants to institutions where students run away to forigen lands without contributing to own motherland, rather than squezee grants to Sainik School, whose officers will make utmost sacrifice for nation.
RE:Sainik Schools - Improve Career Opportunities inDefence
by on May 12, 2008 09:31 PM Permalink
Caution, Balwant Sharma: you could get Dooced !!
Came across this word - Dooced - on
UrbanDictionaryDOTcom
dooced : Getting fired because of something that you wrote in your blog.
"Blogger Heather B. Armstrong coined the phrase in 2002, after she was fired from her Web design job for writing about work and colleagues on her blog, DooceDOTcom"
Recently, Delta Air Lines flight attendant Ellen Simonetti was fired, she said, for what her supervisor called a misuse of uniform.
Simonetti had posted on her personal blog, Queen of Sky (now called Diary of a Fired Flight Attendant), pictures of herself, in her uniform, on an empty plane. Her blog also contained thinly veiled work stories.
You must Thank God for low internet usage and lower blog readership (by your bosses) on Rediff. !!
RE:Sainik Schools - Improve Career Opportunities inDefence
by Sincere Citizen on May 12, 2008 02:47 PM Permalink
I met and talked with some people from defence background or dealing with the defence personnel and they all accused of massive corruption in defence area, if this is truth then it itself can cause decent people to opt out of army.
After all people going to army would have more honesty, integrity and love for nation all these qualities would be in complete opposition to corruption.
Some of the ex-defence record in politics as far as corruption goes is very bad too.
It had been my experience, while serving with sainik school alumni in the Army, that these people are highly motivated and possess the right aptitude required by the defence forces.
While the recruiters lament lack of OLQ (Officer Like Qualities) in candidates in the selection boards, the fertile source of sainik schools is being neglected.
The govt. must take steps to curb the ills besetting these schools, as explained by the author in this article.
