Maharashtra Assembly today passed a resolution asking the Centre to set up another Sainik School in the in Chandrapur district besides the one at Satara here.
The resolution which was moved by Maharastra Education Minister Vinod Tawde, was passed unanimously by the House.
Lt Gen R R Nimbhorkar, GOC Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area, was instrumental in the proposal to set up a second Sainik School, an official said. Lt Gen Nimbhorkar is an alumnus of Sainik School, Satara.
The Sainik School at Satara, which has the distinction of being the first among Sainik Schools in the country, was set up in 1961.
The idea of establishing a chain of Sainik Schools in the country was conceived by the late V K Krishna Menon, the then defence minister.
The school was inaugurated by Menon on June 23, 1961, and the function was presided over by Yashwantrao Chavan, the then chief minister of Maharashtra.
There are six boarding houses in it named after Pandit Nehru, Chhatrapati Shivaji, D K Karve, Maharana Pratap, Lokmanya Tilak and Lal Bahadur Shastri. There are staff quarters for all employees of the school.
The school has an athletics stadium and 15 other play grounds for football, hockey, volley ball and basket ball.
The school has classes six to 12 and is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. The school strength is 650 students who are prepared for entry to the prestigious National Defence Academy.
So far, around 1,200 students have joined the armed forces as officers.
The school is managed by the Sainik Schools Society under the Ministry of Defence. The Society's Board of Governors is headed by the Defence Minister.
Alumni of the Satara Sainik School include Indian Airforce chief, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik and actor-filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.
