Lt Gen Singh said Bihar needed Rashtriya Military School in Bhojpur district

 

  

PATNA: Vice-chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen S K Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, has expressed his willingness to set up a Rashtriya Military School in Bhojpur district to cater to the needs of the youths.
During his visit to Ara recently, Lt Gen Singh said Bihar needed such schools as the state had the maximum number of officers and jawans in the Armed forces after Punjab. Addressing ex-servicemen at Ara, he said Bhojpur district would be an ideal place for setting up such a school keeping in mind the highest density of ex-servicemen as well as serving jawans from Bhojpur.
According to Bihar ex-servicemen league president, Col (retd) V K Singh, the Britishers had established King George's Royal Military Schools during pre-independence period with an aim to providing public school education to the sons of defence personnel in the country. However, these schools were reorganized and admission was made open for civilians' children in 1952. The Britishers had set up these schools at Chail (Punjab), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Belgaum (Maharashtra), Bangalore (Karnataka) and Dholpur ( Himachal Pradesh), he said.
The league president said these schools were renamed as Rashtriya Military School on June 25, 2007. Since then, these schools have been providing leadership material to Army and other professions in the country. However, with the change in the national recruitment policy in Army, which is based on male population of the state, Bihar accounts for 11.5% of defence personnel.
According to sources, there is no such school in the eastern states which come under the direct control of Director General of Military Training, Army Headquarters, New Delhi. Sainik schools come under the purview of state governments, sources said. According to Col (retd) Singh, Army has, of late, introduced 'Women's Commission' for women in the Armed forces.
"The greatest benefit of a Rashtriya Military School would be that students, including girls, could prepare themselves for Army, paramilitary forces, police and other professions. It would be great if Bihar government could provide free of cost land to Army for setting up such a school in Bhojpur district," the league president said.