Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 26

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to approve the memorandum of agreement for a Sainik School in Gurdaspur district and sanction a third such institute for Bathinda.

In a letter to the Defence Minister, Capt Amarinder said the state government would sign the memorandum of agreement for the third Sainik School as soon as an approval of the defence ministry was received.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the state government had already allotted 40 acres at Dalla Gorian in Gurdaspur district to establish Punjab’s second Sainik School and the memorandum of agreement had also been signed and submitted to the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the Ministry of Defence.

However, Capt Amarinder said, it would not suffice to meet the aspirations of Punjab’s youth. Emphasising the need for having a Sainik School each in the Malwa, Doaba and Majha regions, the three natural geographical divisions of the state, he said it was felt a third Sainik School in Bathinda would suitably cater to this requirement.

The Chief Minister noted Sainik Schools were prestigious institutions that had consistently maintained the highest standards in imparting education to children across the country.

For many years, he said, the schools had groomed youth into responsible citizens and many key positions in the armed forces were today manned by alumni of these schools.

Sainik School, Kapurthala, is currently the only such institute in Punjab, established way back in 1961.

“The youth of Punjab have always displayed an exemplary zeal to join the armed forces and serve the nation. There is, thus, an urgent need to establish additional Sainik schools in the state,” stressed the Chief Minister.