Delhi govt’s Armed Forces Preparatory School to be its first fully residential institute

The announcement for an armed forces preparatory school had been made by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his 2021 budget speech, under the government’s ‘Deshbhakti Budget’. Applications for admission to the first batch are currently ongoing.

The school is being considered as one of the government’s new Schools of Specialised Excellence. According to a government official, the school’s curriculum will have two parts — a basic foundational study component and another on the specialisation, which would entail preparation for National Defence Academy (NDA) and Services Selection Board (SSB) tests and physical readiness.

“Like in the case of SOSEs with other specialisations, we will have knowledge partners for the specialisation module. We had issued a tender calling for a knowledge implementing partner to which we have received some quotations and we are still processing it. One of the tender conditions is that it should have people on board with an armed forces background and experience with these processes,” said a government official.

In this first round of admissions, 100 students will be admitted each in class IX and XI — 60 seats are for boys and 40 for girls in each grade. The admission process will be two-staged with an aptitude test first, followed by a physical fitness test.

The campus will be fully residential over a 14-acre area in Jharoda Kalan, though admissions are only open for residents of Delhi. “The idea is that a residential school is better for developing discipline. Since it’s both for boys and girls, there will be separate residential blocks for both,” said the government official.