Independence Day 2021 | All Sainik Schools To Now Admit Girls. Everything You Want To Know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the all-boys Sainik schools across the country will now start inducting girl students too.

PM Narendra Modi at Red Fort for his speech to mark 75 years of independence. (Image: @NarendraModi)

New Delhi: Delivering his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the all-boys Sainik schools across the country will now admit girl students too.

In all, there are 31 Sainik schools in India — these are feeder institutions to prepare cadets for the Indian armed forces, and did not admit girl students earlier, barring the children of the schools’ staff.

In March this year, the Modi government had announced that admission for girls would be allowed from the current academic year.

“We must ensure that women have equal representation in every sphere. We need to ensure that from roads to the workplace, women have a feeling of security and respect,” the PM said on Sunday.

He also said the law, the state governments, the police, and the people, in general, would have to deliver on “100 per cent of their responsibilities” for this initiative to work.

Stating that he would “get messages from lakhs of daughters” that they also wanted to study in Sainik schools, Modi said, “The doors of Sainik schools should be opened for them too.” 

Plan In The Works Since 2018

In 2019, it was reported for the first time that the government is considering changing the admission rules for Sainik schools so girls could also start studying in these schools.

During his August 15 speech on Sunday, Modi said an experiment was done in Mizoram about two and a half years ago, for the first time. “Today, the government has decided that the doors of Sainik schools will now be open for girls,” he said.

The idea was experimented in Mizoram’s Chhingchhip in 2018.

In December 2019, the Ministry of Defence informed Parliament that the government had approved the admission of girls in five Sainik schools for the academic session 2020-21, and that an action plan was in the works so all 31 Sainik schools could start inducting girls.

There would be a provision of 10 per cent reservation for girls in such schools, the ministry had said then in reply to a supplementary question in Parliament.