Friday 21 December 2012

SAINIK FROM A HOLISTIC VIEW

To the Editors, 
Hueiyen Lanpao and 
The Peoples' Chronicle


Dear Sir,
Enough has been said and written about the recent ‘early vacation’ given by Sainik School Imphal to its senior-most cadets. This matter concerning the only residential Public school with a military touch in the entire state of Manipur, with Defence Ministry spending crores of rupees every year, is indeed a topic of great concern as a citizen of the country. But I am also worried if the news report and the editorials show its one-sided very biased nature of a big debatable issue by hitting the nail to the Principal alone instead of understanding the issue in a holistic manner. The task before us is not about hitting the ball to someone’s court but to understand the system as a whole through Empirical investigation and Logical understanding by everyone involved in it.

The very fact that the School sent the senior-most cadets for early vacation to prepare for SSB and Board Exams only to be called back in Mid-February when the SSB Interviews for the Cadets are over gives a blow to the news report that the students were sent home well in advance before their board exam. Again, the report that the students had been staying in the school during their winter vacations for the past many years shows its lacunae in the true information as the Class 12 students who got into the NDA written exam were always sent for SSB Coaching to Delhi and the rest were sent home for the preparation of their board exam during winter vacation in the past though few stayed back on their request.

Though the present Principal Col. Ravi Kumar is being questioned for sending the students just before their board exam in Class X , one cannot undermine the tension and chaos created by a few batch of students to the entire fraternity with the fights that erupt during this volatile period of the year. I am also worried with the way few citizens are too involved with the working of the present Principal in his act of taking a decision by calling a meeting with the parents before sending off the students for early vacation. Consulting few senior-most students of the school, I find them fully satisfied with the way the school deals this issue as they are now able to consult only the subjects they have doubts from different teachers outside the school and do intense preparation for the rest of the subjects at home.

By sending them for early vacation, the Senior-most students are very much happy that the School has exempted them from the responsibilities of organizing the ‘Annual Athletic Meet 2012’ with regard to their preparation. Moreover, no claims from Cadets outside the state as well as far off places who are staying in Coaching Centers outside the School can be entertained as they were given full liberty to stay back this winter vacation in the School. The question before us is : What does it matter to few citizens if the whole batch of students are very much satisfied with the way the School deals this issue? Here comes the need of the hour to ask whether the news reports are a vested interests of few people to defame the Principal and the School !

With the reports about the completion of the course in totality before December 1, I am also concerned with the way the teaching faculty dump the entire chunk of knowledge in one go during the past few months by conducting intense extra classes day and night with very less time for assimilation. But one should also understand the very fact that the boys had to prepare for their NDA entrance exam till the last week of August which deter them from preparing for the boards before that. In addition, One cannot deny the blame the School gets if the syllabi were not completed by November 31st as the boys will be busy with their SSB interview in the month of December and January and the month of February is well known to be preserved for self-preparation for the board exam. The Teaching faculty should be praised for this Herculean task for delivering what is needed during the stipulated time.




By questioning the quality of education imparted in this prestigious institution, one forgets to mention that Sainik School was established not to produce toppers of the Board Exams but to groom the boys mentally, physically and psychologically for entry into the National Defence Academy. The School should be highly appreciated in the way it bends its few rules to address the concern of few students who might get unlucky in their NDA exam by giving them a chance to taking Coaching Classes outside the School in order to boost their board results as the cut-off for University entry are soaring high in the recent years.

The worries of the senior-most students who have to prepare for NDA vis-à-vis their Board Exam finding a way to balance both should be well understood by the public. Well, what I want to conclude here is if books, studies and marks are the sole concern of a person, Sainik School is not for him. They are given a chance to walk out in their Class X through Aptitude tests and Counselling if they want to choose other career options. One should have a clear idea that Sainik Schools were not established to produce academicians but rather wholesome men with all round qualities. They are to adapt, manage and balance their studies with other works of life and that’s being a Sainik. No one has a valid reason to blame its working system as the whole set up is different from the rest of the schools in the country.

Yours
Rocky Wahengbam

Enclosed,
The News report in the Peoples' Chronicle : http://thepeopleschronicle.in/?p=5220a and the editorial in Hueiyen Lanpao : http://www.hueiyenlanpao.com/articles/item/6346-the-best-becoming-doubtfulwasu





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