Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty has written to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh expressing concern about the alleged politicisation of Sainik Schools. According to a statement issued by Sivankutty’s office on Friday, the minister in his letter has said that handing over running Sainik Schools to organisations with political affiliations will erode the independence and openness of the institutions.
“Sainik Schools are important institutions for future defence personnel and therefore, should not be dragged into politics at any level. “For this reason, I request you to maintain the reputation of these establishments to guarantee national security and ensure fairness in education,” the minister has said in his letter to Singh.
Recently, an online media platform — ‘The Reporters’ Collective’ — had reported that the government handed over 62 per cent of the new Sainik Schools to people associated with Sangh Parivar, politicians from the BJP and its allies. Citing the report, the CPI(M)’s national leadership had alleged that a significant number of private institutions which have entered into an agreement with the Sainik School Society to run new Sainik Schools have RSS-BJP links.
The Left party had also condemned the government for facilitating the participation of private players to run Sainik Schools and said the move reinforces “communalisation of education” and can also impact the “high secular standards” of military establishment.
The report was rejected by the Defence Ministry which had asserted that a rigorous selection process was followed to finalise institutions to run the new Sainik Schools. “The political or ideological affiliation or otherwise of the applicant institution does not influence the selection process,” it had said. “Attempts to politicise or distort the objectives and implementation of the scheme by casting aspersions on it are unwarranted and misleading,” the ministry had added.