The State government has taken over the pension burden of the employees of Sainik School, Kazhakuttam, their retirement benefits, and other administrative requirements.
A statement from the office of Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty on Sunday said a decision has been taken to provide scholarships to eligible students. The government will incur an expense of ₹6 crore a year on this account.
The statement said the Union and the State government signed an agreement on March 1 to improve the functioning of Sainik School, which was found by the former Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon in 1961. The land for the school was provided by the State government.
The statement alleged that the Union government was not providing any financial assistance to the school or arranging academic facilities. Employees have not been getting salary or pension for nearly two years. They had to resort to a sit-in protest in front of the school gate.
The Union government’s assistance for the school, which has 630 students and 80 teaching and non-teaching staff, came to less than ₹1.25 crore. Nearly 70% of the students were Malayalis.
Mr. Sivankutty and Kadakampally Surendran, MLA, visited the school and held talks with the school authorities about its functioning and the challenges it faced. The agreement was signed in the wake of this.
Since the Union government’s decision to ‘privatise’ Sainik Schools, the Sainik School here, which was on the verge of closure, is on the road to recovery, the statement said.
