Special and separate award for the Sainik School teachers

2787.   SHRI S. MUNISWAMY:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes to declare a special and separate award for the Sainik School teachers each year, if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the award given to one of the Sainik School teachers on yearly basis by the Ministry of Education on the recommendation by the Sainik School Society has not been given during the last year;

(c) if so, the reasons therefor;

(d) whether it will be possible to either reconsider the last years’ award to one of the teachers amongst the Sainik Schools now or increase the number of awardees from Sainik Schools, if so, the details thereof

(e) the reasons for not considering teachers of Sainik Schools for Padma award till date despite their extraordinary contributions; and

(f) whether all the teachers of a Sainik School can be collectively considered for the Padma Award in due course of time, if so, the details thereof?

(a): Sainik schools recognize its teachers who are instrumental in shaping the future of their students. Towards this, a proposal to give a special award to the eligible and best amongst all the teachers of Sainik schools, is under consideration.

(b) to (d): Ministry of Education has informed that as per the extant guidelines for National Awards to Teachers, all States/UTs/Organizations send the list of shortlisted  candidates subject to the prescribed maximum number to the Independent National  Jury  for consideration at national level. The Independent Jury reviews the list of candidates received from all the States/UTs/Organizations. There is no quota fixed for any of the States/UTs/Organizations at national level. During the year 2022, four teachers of Sainik schools were shortlisted for Information Communication Technology (ICT) Award and one teacher of Sainik Schools for the National Award to Teachers (NAT). However, none of these could figure in the list of awardees drawn by the Ministry of Education  based  on  their selection process.

(e) & (f): There is no bar for Sainik school teachers to be considered for Padma Award subject to their being eligible and meeting all the requisite criteria for the award.

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