Expansion of Sainik schools in PPP mode

At a recent meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that institutions linked to the ruling party were being favoured in the selection of new Sainik Schools under the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The government, however, rejected ideological bias and defended the PPP framework as a transparent and efficient way to expand access to military-oriented education. The disagreement revived an important question: is the government expanding the Sainik School system through private participation or is it fundamentally changing the nature of the institution? How did Sainik Schools come into being? The history of…