President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said that Uttar Pradesh is moving forward in the field of education and congratulated the Yogi government for this. The President was addressing as the chief guest at the diamond jubilee celebrations of Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey Sainik School Lucknow. Governor of the state Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were also present on the occasion.

“I am delighted to know that the Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey Sainik School in Uttar Pradesh — the country’s first Sainik School imparts education to the girls also.This is a big step towards women empowerment”, said President Ram Nath Kovind.

On the occasion, he also unveiled the statue of Dr Sampurnanand, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh; inaugurated an Auditorium named after Dr Sampurnanand and laid foundation stones for the projects regarding doubling the capacity of the School and a hostel for girls in the School. Along with this, a special postage stamp issued by the Postal Department was released by the Prez.

“CM Yogi has requested the establishment of 16 new Sainik Schools for the state. Recently, the foundation stone of Sainik School, Gorakhpur has been done which shows the commitment of the Chief Minister towards the development of education”, said the President while appreciating the work of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Lauding the efforts of the Uttar Pradesh government in the field of education, the President further said that, on 15 August the Prime Minister announced that Sainik schools will be open for girls but Uttar Pradesh is ahead in taking this decision as admission to girls was open three years back, setting up an example in the country.

“This would be the first Sainik School in the country whose girl students would appear in the NDA examination this year. He said that teachers and students of this school have established a tradition of excellence and have also set good standards for other Sainik Schools”, said the President.

Addressing the programme, CM Yogi said that Late Sampurnanand Ji had envisaged in the 1960s that there should be Sainik Schools. India had a war with China in the year 1962, at that time that politician had sensed with his foresight that the country would need it.

CM Yogi said our government has resolved that the nation needs Sainik Schools. This way we can give disciplined citizens not only to the army but also to the country for the internal security.

CM Yogi further stated, “We decided in 2018 itself that girls should also be admitted in Sainik Schools, the same was envisaged by the Prime Minister of the country. Our government is continuously working towards women empowerment. This Sainik School was named after Captain Manoj Pandey in 2017, the hero of Kargil war to pay tribute to the great son of Mother India.”

In the programme, Governor Anandiben Patel also expressed happiness over the implementation of new educational policy in UP, and Diamond Jubilee of Sainik School. She also praised the work done by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Sainik Schools.