Chandigarh, (Samajweekly) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday urged Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to immediately approve the memorandum of agreement (MoA) for a Sainik School in Gurdaspur district, and also sanction a third Sainik School in Bathinda.
In a letter to the Defence Minister, Amarinder said the state government would sign the MoA for the third Sainik School as soon as the approval of the ministry is received.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the state government has already allotted 40 acres of land at Dalla Gorian in Gurdaspur district to establish Punjab’s second Sainik School and the MoA has also been signed and submitted to the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the Ministry of Defence.
However, he said this shall not, in his opinion, suffice to meet the aspirations of the Punjabi youth.
Emphasising on the need for at least one Sainik School each in the Malwa, Doaba and Majha regions, the three natural geographical divisions of the state, he said it was felt that a third Sainik School in Bathinda will suitably cater to this requirement.
The Chief Minister noted that Sainik Schools are prestigious institutions which have consistently maintained the highest standards in imparting education to children across the country.
For many years, he said, these schools have groomed youth into responsible citizens and many key positions in the armed forces are today manned by the alumni of these schools.
The Sainik School in Kapurthala is at present the only Sainik School in Punjab, established way back in 1961.
The youth of Punjab have always displayed an exemplary zeal to join the armed forces and to serve the nation. There is, thus, an urgent need to establish additional Sainik schools in the State, stressed the Chief Minister.
