Sainik School

The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society. They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the Indian Military, and to prepare students for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune and Indian Naval Academy. Today there are 24 such schools covering all the states of the country.

The schools come under the purview of respective state governments and Ministry of Defence, and in his Union Budget of 2008, Finance minister, P Chidambaram, allocated Rs 2 crore to each of the 22 Sainik schools, to counter rising attrition in the defence forces, especially at the officer level.

History
The inspiration for Sainik Schools came from the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) which have given India many service chiefs and the public school system of England. Sainik schools can be regarded as the ordinary citizen's public school where deserving students can get high quality education irrespective of their income or class background. Seats are reserved for children of serving Defence personnel and concessions are given to children of Government officials.

The objective of the Sainik Schools is to prepare the students to lead as officers in the Defence Services of the country. The schools select bright and promising students through a national entrance examination and focus on moulding their overall personality with emphasis on extracurricular activities.

Sainik schools resources allow cadets to develop their skills in sports, academics and other extracurricular activities. Sainik Schools include running tracks, cross-country tracks, indoor games, parade grounds, boxing rings, firing ranges, canoeing clubs, horse riding clubs, mountaineering clubs, trekking and hiking club, obstacles courses, football, hockey and cricket fields, as well as volleyball and basketball courts. Cadets also become a part of NCC. A cadet who complete their 12th standard usually possess a NCC B certificate.

Cadets are assigned to houses. They are classified as sub-juniors, juniors and seniors respectively depending upon their class of study. Cadets compete in sports, physical training, academics, cross country, drill and various other competitions to win their house trophy.

Sainik Schools Society
The Sainik Schools Society is an organization under the Ministry of Defence. Its board of governors is chaired by the Minister of Defence.

Proposed Sainik Schools

 * 1) Sainik School, Sambalpur, Odisha
 * 2) Sainik School, Alwar, Rajasthan