Explained: Why is the Delhi govt setting up an Armed Forces Preparatory School?

“To prepare our children to protect the country’s borders, we are planning to start a new Sainik School here and a Delhi Armed Forces Preparatory Academy.  There are currently 33 Sainik Schools in India but not a single one in Delhi. We will open Delhi’s first Sainik School. Along with this, we’ll also start an Armed Forces Preparatory Academy. Here, along with their regular studies, children will be prepared to be enrolled into the NDA and the Army,” he had said.

The setting up of Sainik Schools requires working with the Central Government since these are under the Ministry of Defence. However, not much ground has been covered on that, but admissions to the school are underway, with hopes that it will be operational from the upcoming academic session with 200 students.

Where will it be set up?

It will be the first fully residential school set up by the Delhi government. A 14-acre campus in South West Delhi’s Jharoda Kalan is being built and admissions will be open only to residents of Delhi. According to a government official, it was felt that a boarding school “will be better to hone discipline in the children”.

What will the curriculum look like?

It is being counted among the government’s new Schools of Specialized Excellence, in which each school is dedicated to specialization in one particular domain — from STEM to Performing and Visual Arts. Like the others, the Armed Forces Preparatory School will have a curriculum that covers both basic subjects and the specialized ones.

According to a government official, the specialization modules are still in the works with a tender having been issued to bring in a knowledge partner with experience in this domain.

The school will have an academic wing and a ‘service preparatory’ wing. In class IX and X, the focus of the academic wing will be on basic subjects, such as Math, English, Hindi, General Sciences and Social Sciences; and in XI and XII, it will be on academic training to prepare for the National Defence Academy and other entry examinations.

The services preparatory wing is aimed at “nurturing the identified potential and improving on the identified gaps/working areas” and inculcating “officer-like qualities” in the students. The school promises to provide services selection board training cycles, personality development capsules, and spoken English and verbal expression training sessions

Who are the children who will be admitted to it?

The school will be from Class IX to XII and admissions will be conducted for 100 students in each class. Of these, 60 will be boys and 40 will be girls in each grade.

Fifty percent of admissions to the school will be reserved for students of government and government-aided schools. Candidates will appear for an aptitude test which will cover Mathematics, English and General Ability. It will be followed by an interview and medical screening, and only students fit according to NDA’s standards will be admitted.

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