Kerala Minister V Sivankutty writes to Rajnath Singh on alleged politicisation of Sainik Schools

“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.

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Cites communalisation

Recently, an online media platform — “The Reporters’ Collective” — had reported that the government handed over 62 percent 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 that 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 the “communalisation of education” and can also impact the “high secular standards” of the 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.

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