It is quite unfortunate that an educational institution lauded for turning out persons of character apart from its signal contribution to the defence sector should have to appear as a supplicant before governments to stave off closure. Though the Sainik School, Kazhakoottam, has been in this pecuniary predicament for a decade and a half, no solution has been found till now. A ray of hope has been offered by the fiscal aid promised by the Minister for General Education, V Sivankutty, and the local MLA, Kadakampally Surendran, during their recent joint visit to the campus. The financial crisis will only be resolved by the state government agreeing to shoulder the burden of annual extra expenditure through signing a MoU with the centre. Any further delay will only exacerbate the situation. The outside world became aware of the state of penury prevailing in the school when the staff observed an hour-long strike last month-end to protest non-payment of salaries. From 2013 onwards the school has been dipping into reserve funds to meet expenses. This dismal state of affairs has reduced the school authorities to don the garb of a year-end mendicant approaching the central and state governments for alms.

While the upkeep of the campus and construction activities have to be borne by the state government, salary pay-outs were accounted for by the fees collected. When the salary-pension component escalated, revenues from fees became inadequate to meet this expense. The centre stipulated that this additional burden has to be shouldered by the state governments. While most states acceded to this demand, the recalcitrance shown by successive dispensations in Kerala has culminated in the present predicament. It is the lack of clarity on who should meet the quotidian expenditure of the school that has resulted in the prolongation of the crisis.

V K Krishna Menon, the then defence minister, envisioned Sainik Schools in early 1960s to offset the imbalance of regional representation in the forces. The egalitarian aim of fulfilling the constitutional aspiration of “equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all” also propelled him. The fruition of that dream is best exemplified by the working of the CARCEL {Centre for Advanced Research in Socio Emotional Learning} Foundation, set up by the 1991 batch of Sainik School, among the indigenous communities. Through Project Shine they succeeded in enrolling 12 tribal students from Attappady in the Sainik School. We had acknowledged this sterling achievement through the editorial titled ‘The pride of Attappady’, on February 12, 2016.  Another six students, including two girls, from tribal hamlets in Wayanad, also entered the portals of the school, thanks to their efforts through Project Kanmani.  

The state education minister had offered full support to the school during his visit. Consequently, everybody is optimistic about the state government expediently inking the MoU with the centre. A child aspiring to become an officer in the forces dreams of Sainik School first. But the current fee structure is a huge deterrent to those hailing from families of moderate means. The full scholarship provided by the state government to cadets from economically weaker sections comes to but a quarter of the total fees. That too with a cap of re.180,00 as annual income! The ugly fact is that many desist from even applying for admission balking at the prospect of shelling out a colossal amount from their own bare purses. Signing of the MoU will result in scholarships to the deserving needy matching the fee amount and raising the income limit for meeting the financial eligibility criterion. The hope is that the state government will fulfil these demands benefiting the common man in the immediate future.

[Translation of the editorial in Malayalam in the Mathrubhumi of February 23, 2022]