The Rashtriya SwayamSewak Sangh (RSS), the largest voluntary organization in the world is all set to open an ‘Army School’ through its Education Wing ‘Vidya Bharti’. The school will be operational from next year and will train children to become officers in the armed forces.
The school will be named after RSS Sarsangchalak Rajendra Singh, or more popularly known as Rajju Bhaiya. The school called, Rajju Bhaiya Sainik Vidya Mandir is being established in Shikarpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar district, where the RSS man was born in 1922. Ajay Goyal, regional convener of West UP and Uttarakhand for the Vidya Bharti Uchha Shiksha Sansthan said, “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,” He also added “The prospectus for the first batch of students is almost ready and we will invite applications from next month,.. We will take 160 students for Class VI for the first batch.” 56 seats will also be reserved children of martyrs under a reservation scheme.
According to a report in Economic Times, the school is spread over 20,000 square meter land donated by a former army man and farmer Rajpal Singh, the construction for which had commenced on August 24 last year. The school will feature a large stadium, a three-storey academic building, a three-storey hostel and a dispensary. A newly created trust, Rajpal Singh Jankalyan Sewa Samiti will be looking over the school and the land.
The school brochure read, “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 fulfill the demand of officers in the Indian forces.”
The school will follow the Central Board of Secondary Education syllabus and will have students from Class VI to Class XII. Classes are expected to commence in April.
RSS Prant Pracharak of Meerut, Ajay Mittal also lauded the efforts and said, “It’s an honour for the Meerut prant to have an Army school under Vidya Bharti” he also added “The school will fulfill the dreams of children to serve the country as an army officer in future.” The school will be administered by Central Hindu Military Education Society.
Vidya Bharti, which runs more than 20,000 schools across the country, considers education as an artifice to educate the young generation according to Indian values and culture started the first school in Gorakhpur, UP, in 1952 and now this school surely is in continuation of Siksha Bharti motives.