The Army will sponsor 110 students from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to its residential public schools and higher education institutions across the country from the current academic year, it said on Tuesday.
This is being done as part of ‘Operation Sadbhavana’ (operation goodwill), which aims to win the hearts and minds of residents of the two Union Territories (UT).
Domiciled residents of J&K and Ladakh, sponsored by the Army’s Northern Command headquarters would be eligible for admissions in the current academic year. From next year onwards, they would be required to pass a special admission test.
‘Providing quality education’
“The initiative is aimed at providing quality education to deserving candidates from the Union Territories and offer them opportunities and exposure to acquire requisite competence and capability for a secure future,” said an Army statement, adding that some of the country’s best schools and colleges with stellar faculty, innovative pedagogy, and state of the art infrastructure would be part of the scheme.
A total of 100 seats, 50 each for boys and girls of classes 8 and 9, have been earmarked for students from J&K and Ladakh in Army Public Schools (APS) at Beas in Punjab and Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand for the academic year 2021-22. From 2022-23 onwards, these 100 seats would also include seats in APS Dhaula Kuan in New Delhi, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Dagshai in Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.
There would be a total of six vacancies created for undergraduate students from these UTs at the Army Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, and the Army Institute of Fashion Design, both in Bengaluru, and the Army’s nursing colleges in Guwahati and Jalandhar. From 2022-23 onwards, additional seats would be provided at the Army’s institutes of management and education in Kolkata and Greater Noida.
All these institutions function under the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES).
