Raksha Shakti School nurtures Gujarat’s future defence leaders from class 6

Surat | Gujarat —- Kautilya Dubey, a native of Valsad district, studies in Std. 6 of Raksha Shakti School in Surat. Kautilya, who wants to serve in the country’s Navy in the future, has taken the first step towards realizing his dream by getting admission here under the guidance of his father.

Kautilya is not an isolated case. About 54 such boys have taken admission in the Vidyadeep Charitable Trust-run ‘Raksha Shakti School (RSS)’ located at  Anita village in Olpad taluka, Surat. There are boys from Surat, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Bharuch, and Botad, who have been studying in the Raksha Shakti School scheme implemented by the Gujarat government. 

The Raksha Shakti Schools’ scheme has been implemented by the state government’s education department with the aim of giving the students of the state an opportunity to build a career in the country’s defense, paramilitary and police services. High-quality residential Raksha Shakti School has been started in 10 districts including Surat through social partnership so that maximum children of the state can make a career in the armed forces.

Bhavnagar’s Parv Jodiya, who is studying in RSS in Std. 6, has achieved his goal of becoming an IAS. He is satisfied with the academic and physical training he receives at Raksha Shakti School. He also says that the preparation he started from a young age will be helpful in the long run.

Giving details about this, principal of Surat school, Dayashankar Thakur, said that Raksha Shakti School is an excellent medium for children who want to make a career in the defense services for the defense of the country from a young age. In the residential RSS started by the state government on PPP (Public-Private Partnership) basis, children from Std. 6 to 12 are given free training to develop physical and mental abilities along with education in a disciplined manner.

Talking about the daily program of the students, he said that here, children are given physical exercises and pranayama like yoga, exercise and running every morning. During the day, along with academic classes and sports like karate, swimming, running, long jump, high jump in the evening as per the routine, NCC training and parade are conducted by retired army officers. Also, they are given an in-depth understanding of services including defense, paramilitary and police from a young age. And to keep the children stress-free, co-curricular activities including music and dance are also conducted.

In addition, taking special care of the health of the children, they are given complete food with breakfast, lunch and dinner, tea and milk, including green vegetables and fruits in the diet according to the season. In which special care is taken of all the nutrients including protein, calcium, vitamins, fat according to their needs.

It is worth mentioning here that ‘Raksha Shakti School’ has been started on PPP (Public-Private Partnership) basis in 10 districts including Surat, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Amreli, Kutch, Amreli Patan and Kheda. This scheme, which was started in the state with the aim of making the future generation of Gujarat physically, mentally and educationally capable and moving forward in the defense sector, will be started in other states of the country based on its success.

Students are selected in this school through the Common Entrance Test (CET). In addition to the written entrance exam, candidates are also given a medical fitness test by the Civil Surgeon and an interview as per the pattern of Sainik School Balachadi-Jamnagar as per the need and the final selection is made after interviewing them as per the need.

In RSS, 75% of the students from government and grant-in-aid schools and up to 25% from private schools are admitted on the basis of merit of the examination. Where students get free benefits of every facility.