Admission to Sainik Schools

Sainik Schools are residential schools for students, providing Public School Education with Military bias. The schools are affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi and are supported by Central and State funding.

The scheme to establish Sainik Schools was introduced in 1961 with the primary aim of preparing students academically, physically and mentally for entry into the National Defence Academy.

Vision of Sainik schools

To offer quality education to the children of rural masses and to develop qualities of body, mind and character which will enable the young children to become good and useful citizens and eventually be a feeder to National Defence Academy.

Mission

The school was conceived with the motive of bringing public school education to the door step of the common man and sending a maximum number of its cadets to National Defence Academy. The School is indeed rendering a yeoman service to the nation by providing quality education to the children from myriad backgrounds. It enables boys from economically weaker sections of the society to take up an illustrious career as officer in the Armed Forces of the Nation and other celebrated professions. The school emphasizes on all-round development of the cadets so that they consistently strive hard to live up to the expectations of their parents and nation at large.

Sainik schools in India

There are about 33 Sainik schools in the country. To access the contact details of the schools, click here.

Sainik Schools are members of All India Public Schools Conference. They offer a common curriculum and are affiliated to the CBSE, New Delhi. While developing a wholesome personality of the students so that they are fit for the NDA, the schools also prepare the students for class-X and XII examination of the CBSE as well as UPSC exam for the NDA. The medium of instruction is English even though English is not a pre-requisite for admission. Since these schools prepare students for NDA in the +2 stage only the Science stream is offered.

Besides academic excellence the students are encouraged to develop creative faculties through co-curricular activities and socially useful work. They are systematically introduced to all major games and given compulsory NCC training upto class-XI. Adventure activities form an integral part of training. Each school has extensive infrastructure and land to cater to needs of comprehensive training so that boys are brought up in conducive environment.

Fee structure

The fee for a student per academic year is around Rs 1,27,500.

Scholarships

• Cadets studying in Sainik Schools are eligible for State Government scholarships based on parents income. Central Government also provides scholarship share at varying rates to those receiving State Government scholarships.
• Children of serving defence personnel and ex-servicemen admitted on defence quota are granted scholarships by the Ministry of Defence.
• Under a new scheme all students studying in Sainik Schools receive about Rs.14,000/- per year as a subsidy from the MoD.
• In some schools where amounts of scholarship are liberal, students are studying by paying a very nominal amount. Cases have been taken up with the State Govts to increase the quantum of scholarship and the income slabs wherever they are less.

Admission process

Admission is based on an entrance test comprising Maths, GK (Sc & Sst), Language and Intelligence for Class VI; Maths, Intelligence, English ,General Science and Social Studies for Class IX, followed by Interview and medical examination.

Sainik Schools admit students in classes VI & IX on the basis of their merit in the Entrance Examination and an Interview and in Class XI students are admitted on the basis of the marks scored in Class X Board examination. Girl candidates are now eligible for admission to Class VI in all Sainik Schools.

Examination subjects & Break down of marks.

Question papers of the earlier exams can be accessed at NTA website

Age limit

Students seeking admission in Class VI should be 10-12 yrs of age as on 31 March in the year admission is being sought. 

Students seeking admission for Class IX should be aged 13-15 yrs as on 31 March in the year admission is being sought. 

Reservation policy

• 67% of the seats are reserved for candidates domiciled in the State/ UT where the Sainik School is located.
• 33% of the seats are reserved for candidates from Other States and Union Territories (UT).
• Within each Category of Home State/ UT and Other States/ UT quota, seats will be reserved on the following lines:
  a) 15% of the seats are reserved for the category Scheduled Caste (SC),
  b) 7.5% for the category Scheduled Tribe (ST) and
  c) 27% for the category Other Backward Classes belonging to the Non Creamy layer (OBC-NCL) as per the central list.

Thus, 49.50% of the seats in Sainik School are reserved on the above mentioned lines.

Out of the balance 50.50% of the seats in the Home State/ UT and Other States/ UT quota, 25% of the seats are reserved for the wards of defence personnel and ex-servicemen.

In “Other States/ UT” quota, seats will be allotted in each category as per merit, subject to a maximum limit of 25% of vacancies in the category for any State or Union Territory.

In Class VI of each Sainik School, 10% of the total vacancies or 10 seats, whichever is more, are reserved for girls.

Application process

The prospectus and application form are available in the month of October every year and can be obtained from the respective school where the student wants to take admission. The application process is online at https://aissee.nta.nic.in/.

Date of entrance examination : All India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination is held in the month of January every year . 

The National Testing Agency (NTA) would be conducting the  All-India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination (AISSEE)-2024 on 21 Jan 2024 (Sunday) for admissions to Classes VI and IX in 33 Sainik Schools spread across 23 States and one Union Territory. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved 19 New Sainik Schools, which operate in partnership with NGOs/private schools/State Governments. These approved New Sainik Schools function under the aegis of Sainik Schools Society. Admission to the Sainik School stream of Class VI of the New Sainik Schools, for the academic year 2024-25 is also through AISSEE-2024. The online applications closes on 16 December 2023. Candidates are required to submit their applications after registering on the website https://aissee.nta.nic.in/. A detailed information bulletin is also available on the NTA site- www.nta.ac.in. 

Source : Sainik Schools Society

100 Sainik schools in partnership mode

Government of India has decided to set up new Sainik Schools in partnership with Government/ Private Schools /NGOs. The scheme leverages Public/private partnership in education sector, help tap into existing infrastructure available with reputed private and Govt. Schools and open-up new capacities to meet the growing aspirations of children desirous of receiving education in a Sainik School environment.

These schools are approved by Sainik School Society and provide the quality education along with the PLUS Curriculum designed by Sainik School Society, keeping in mind the holistic development of students in these school.

New Sainik Schools offer following benefits to Students:

• The students now have more options and can select the school as suitable to their requirement for example Day School/Residential/Day cum Boarding or Girls Only/Boys Only or Co-Ed School
• With number of schools increasing in every state the proximity to the hometown has increased.
• Academic PLUS curriculum have amalgamation of physical training and value based curriculum
• 50% of the Students up to maximum of 50 will be eligible for scholarship upto 50% with a ceiling of Rs 40000/- on Merit-cum-Means basis.
  NCC training in JD/JW wing
• Option to excel in one sport
•  Fees for all these school is different and purely governed by school management.

Admission in these newly approved Sainik schools will also take place in the same manner as done for schools approved in first round. At least 40% of seats in the newly approved Sainik schools are to be filled through e-counseling of All India Sainik Schools Entrance Exam (AISSEE) qualified candidates and upto 60% through a test to be conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) for students already studying in these schools, for which a test namely New Sainik School Entrance Examination 2022 (NSSEE-22) will be conducted by NTA in mid of August.

Students are advised to visit the web portal  https://sainikschool.ncog.gov.in/ for updates regarding admission process in these newly approved Sainik Schools.