They include two in Karnataka

In a significant step, the Ministry of Defence has given permission to five Sainik Schools, including two in Karnataka, to provide admission to girls from the next academic year. The online admission process began on November 26 and will end on December 6, 2019.

The two schools in Karnataka are in Vijayapura and Kodagu; while the other three are in Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Ghorakhal in Uttarakhand, and Kalikiri in Andra Pradesh.

Though on a pilot bases, the Defence Ministry began admitting girls to Sainik School, Chhingchhip, Mizoram, last year itself. This year, it has included five more.

The ministry, in its order, said that to start with, admission of girls would be limited to 10% of the total seats. It has directed the schools to make necessary arrangements, including dormitory facility. The number could go up later with availability of more infrastructure. Sainik Schools provide education from class 6 to 12.

“We are already seeing girls getting inducted into the armed forces and they are proving their mettle. Since there has been a long-pending demand to admit girls, the defence ministry is now allowing it, based on the availability of infrastructure,” sources said.

Sources said the government would soon consider admitting girls to the National Defence Academy as well. One of the objectives of the Sainik Schools is train students for admission to the NDA. “However as of now, post Sainik School, the girls can join different armed forced which are already opened for them”, the source said.