As the girl students in grade 6 of the Rashtriya Military School (RMS), Bengaluru, were being introduced as part of a media interaction on Monday, there were repeated references to training regimens at par with what boys are undergoing.
The six cadets, the first batch since the school started inducting girls, did appear to have a sense of the occasion, but were at ease taking questions on school-day routines, motivation and role models, and coping with homesickness in the residential school.
Harshi Patel (Gujarat), Varsha Yadav (Haryana), Diljan Kaur (Punjab), Gowri Deepa (Andhra Pradesh), Aditi Nehra (Uttar Pradesh) and Simran Pareda (Odisha), all with family members in Armed Forces, said the RMS was a natural choice to pursue careers in the forces.
Five of the six cadets are Indian Air Force (IAF) aspirants while one, inspired by her grandfather who served in IAF, wants to join the Army.
The CBSE school on Hosur Road (near Johnson Market) is one of the five military schools administered by the Directorate General of Military Training – the other four are in Ajmer, Belagavi, Dholpur, and Chail.
RMS Bengaluru, which is in its 77th year, has had many of its alumni occupying senior positions in the Armed Forces, including Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral S N Ghormade. The school commenced admission of girls at the grade-6 entry point in 2022.
In numbers
T S Suresh, master in-charge – education, said while 70% of the total seats are reserved for children of Junior Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks (including ex-servicemen), 30% are earmarked for children of officers (including retired officers) and civilians.
Last year, for a maximum of 300 seats across India, 55,000 candidates appeared for the entrance examination. The applications are called in July-August and the examination is held in December. While RMS Bengaluru remained a top choice for candidates, the number of students from Karnataka enrolling in the school is marginal, Suresh said.
“We have five military schools and the distribution (of students) is being done by the Army Headquarters. There are cadets from Karnataka in the other schools,” Lt Col Dipankar Choudhary, principal, said.