Centre must roll back privatisation of Sainik Schools: Mallikarjun Kharge to President Murmu

The privatisation of Sainik Schools by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre is a “blatant step to politicise” the independent institutions, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces, on Wednesday.

Kharge’s letter cited a report by The Reporters’ Collective that found that the Centre had awarded 40 Sainik School agreements to educational institutes linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, other Hindutva organisations and leaders of the BJP or its allies, between 2022 and 2023.

The report was based on an analysis of Right to Information replies.

Sainik Schools are managed by the Sainik Schools Society, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence. They provide nearly 20% of cadets who enroll in the National Defence Academy and the Indian Naval Academy.

Before 2022, the Centre and the state governments had been jointly running 33 Sainik Schools. In October 2021, the BJP-led government at the Centre allowed private players to operate their own branches.

In his letter to Murmu, Kharge said that out of the 40 agreements that were signed, 62% were with individuals and organisations linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party or Sangh Parivar and demanded that scheme be rolled back so that “children studying at Armed Forces...

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