In a first, the nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is set to open an Army school in Uttar Pradesh to train children to become officers in the armed forces.
According to the reports, the Army school will be run Vidhya Bharati, the education wing of the RSS which runs over 20,000 schools across the country. The school will come up at Shikarpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshar and would be named after former RSS Sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh, also known as Rajju Bhaiya. The school will be called the Rajju Bhaiya Sainik Vidya Mandir.
Rajpal Singh, a former soldier and farmer of Bulandshar has donated 20,000 square metres of his land for the school. The land is now part of a newly created trust, Rajpal Singh Jankalyan Sewa Samiti. The school will have a three-storey building for academics, a three-storey hostel, a dispensary, residence for staff members and a large stadium. The total cost of the project will be Rs.40 crores.
An ‘Army’ school is being set up by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Shikarpur, Bulandshahr. Rajpal Singh, who donated his land for the school says, “Central Board of Secondary Education curriculum will be followed in the school, students will be trained for defence forces” pic.twitter.com/PRqGvC9hT1
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2019
The construction for the residential school for boys began in August last year. It will follow the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education and will have students from Class VI to Class XII.
“This is an experiment we are doing for the first time in the country and the model can be replicated to other places in future,” Ajay Goyal, regional convener of West UP and Uttarakhand for the Vidya Bharti Uchha Shiksha Sansthan.
As per the report, the prospectus for the first batch of students is almost ready and the applications for admission in the school will be invited from next month. “We will take 160 students for Class VI for the first batch,” Goyal said. The children of martyrs will reportedly get 56 seats under a reservation scheme.
Retired Army officers are expected to meet and offer suggestions for improvements in September. “A number of Army officers across the country are in touch with RSS or affiliate organisations. The date of the meeting will be finalised within a week,” Goyal said.
“There is a lack of Army, Navy and Air Force officers in the country. The reason behind that is not many young people can match the eligibility criteria for the officers’ post. There is one Army School in each state which is not able to fulfil the demand of officers in the Indian forces,” reads the brochure.
