THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A National Cadet Corps (NCC) decision to discontinue issuing NCC ‘C’ certificates to Sainik School cadets is drawing flak with parents’ associations and school officials urging the MoD and the NCC to revoke the decision.
The Parents’ Association, Sainik School Kazhakootam, had petitioned Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh when he was in the city recently to inaugurate the 44th All-India Sainik Schools Principals’ Conference. In fact, the issue had also figured in the agenda of the three-day conference. Although a month had passed since then, no decision has been taken, Parent’s Association office-bearers said.
The NCC decision had come into effect during the last academic year. “The NCC ‘C’ certificate is one of the motivations for youngsters to join the Sainik School. It enables them to sit for the Service Selection Board (SSB) interviews for selection as armed forces officers without appearing for the UPSC exam. Even if they did not join the forces, it stood them in good stead in the competitive exams for professional courses,” Association secretary Jagannath T Nair said.
“Youngsters in the Sainik Schools are not ‘students,’ but ‘cadets.’ They undergo vigorous training for seven years with the ultimate aim of entering the forces. That was the intention when the then Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon took the initiative to establish these schools,” he said.
The existing practice - until the decision to discontinue issuing ‘C’ certificates - was that a cadet would sit for the NCC ‘A’ certificate exam in Class X, the ‘B’ certificate exam in class XI and ‘C’ certificate in Class XII. The new decision requires Class XII cadets to sit for ‘B’ and obtain the ‘C’ certificate at the university level.
The latest worry of the parents is that the ‘B’ certificate examination is to be held in February and unless the government acts promptly the cadets who are in class XI will lose out on a chance to sit for the ‘C’ certificate exam next year. The Association has urged the Minister of State for Defence that these students should be allowed to sit for the exam this year itself so that they do not lose the opportunity.
Sainik School officials too have urged the NCC and the MoD to reinstate the exam. “Sainik Schools are unlike other educational institutions. We have taken up the issue with the NCC and through the Sainik Schools Society. The matter was also discussed at the Sainik Schools Principals’ Conference,” a senior Sainik School official said.