Hoshiarpur girl makes it to NDA with highest marks in SSB

For someone who has never seen sea and has only seen naval ships on internet, Sehjaldeep, is joining NDA as a cadet destined to join Navy. A resident of Chotala village in Hoshiarpur, she completed matriculation from a private school in Nainowal Vaid village, 15 km away from her home, and Class 12 from PM Shri Kendriya Vaidyalaya in village Gaj Bhunga with 97.8 per cent marks in both exams.

“Navy is my first preference as I am fascinated by ships. Navy also gives me a chance to go around the world and seeing other countries because naval ships go on visits to friendly countries,” she says. The farthest from Punjab that she has been is to Bhopal to attend the SSB and to Nanded in Maharashtra to pay obeisance at a gurdwara.

There is nobody in Sehjaldeep’s family who is in defence forces. In fact there is no commissioned officer from her village which has around 100 families. Her father Jagdev Singh is a marginal farmer with 3.5 acres and her mother Parwinder Kaur is a homemaker.

“I learnt about NDA admission from the internet. I found out some years ago that NDA was opening entry for girls and I decided to join. I started preparing and this was my second attempt,” says Sehjaldeep.

She is the second girl to have been selected for NDA from this institute ever since they started training girls for NDA in 2023.

“Competition for girls is very tough for NDA. Against 376 vacancies for boys, there are just 25 vacancies for girls in NDA. From this year onwards we have started getting 20 girls per batch and the aim is to get 15 girls clear the written entrance exam so that we have at least 4-5 girls clearing the SSB and joining NDA,” says Major Gen JS Sandhu (retd), director of the institute, adding that about 65 to 70 per cent girls undergoing training at the institute are from rural and semi urban background.

“At the institute, we get extensive coaching in maths, science, general science GS classes and it is all NDA, CDS, AFCAT oriented. Six girls from the institute have cleared the NDA written entrance exam this time,” says Sehjaldeep, who got to know of the NDA on her mobile which she got after clearing Class 12.