Parents of cadets studying at Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, have called upon the Union Government to intervene in the administration of the institution as the number of students getting qualified to National Defence Academy (NDA) and Armed Forces was very low in the recent years.
A representation containing the suggestions to improve the quality of education and complaints regarding levy of high fees was forwarded to the Centre by the parents through Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping P. Radhakrishnan.
“It is really pathetic that only about 10 students out of the nearly 100 students, who were selected at Class VI level (entry level) in the school, which comes under Ministry of Defence, after a tough competitive examination, are finally making it to the NDA in the recent years.
“It should be remembered that the school’s brochure says that the ‘primary aim of the school is to prepare boys academically, mentally and physically for entry into the NDA’. So this extremely low percentage of qualification into NDA by itself is an indication of ‘somewhere, something is wrong’,” S. Eswaran, president of Parents’ Association of Sainik School, Amarvathinagar, (PASSAM), told The Hindu .
Mr. Eswaran also pointed out that even though over 100 students were inducted at Class VI, the number of students come down to around 60 when the batch reaches Class XII.
“Dropouts are due to lack of motivation and the school is now more and more fascinated at the pass percentage and not at achieving the school’s aim of making the students qualify for NDA,” the parents said.
As a suggestion, the parents had asked the Centre to appoint more teachers from the education wing of Armed Forces who could enthuse the students to take up a career in uniformed services.
“At present, only the principal and headmaster are from Armed Forces,” they said.
P. Venkittaswamy, elected parent member in the Local Body of Administration in Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, told this paper that the present fees of Rs.1.05 lakh per student per annum was too high.
“The Government should absorb this completely considering that the students are moulded to protect the country by joining Armed Forces,” he said.
