Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 8 (IANS): For the first time in the history after the foundation of the only Sainik School in the state in 1962, the first batch of girl cadets took admission in Sainik School Kazhakootam (SSKZM) after clearing All India Sainik School Entrance Examination (AISSEE 2021) for the academic year 2020-21.

A special assembly was conducted in the school auditorium to welcome the first batch consisting of seven girls from Kerala, two from Bihar and one from Uttar Pradesh, to the Kazhak (Sainik School Kazhakootam) family.

Principal, Col. Dhirendra Kumar addressed the cadets and conveyed his wishes for their stay in one of its kind of schools in the state.

The school's infrastructure has been changed significantly in the last one year to welcome the first batch of girls to the campus. Construction of a new house and dormitory was completed by the beginning of the academic year for them.

Admission of girl cadets in Sainik Schools was a successful experimentation in the academic year 2018-19 by Sainik School Society in Mizoram. Subsequently different states of the country took the initiative of admitting girls in their Sainik schools and promoting the spirit within girls to join the Armed Forces and endorsing women empowerment.

This year Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 75th Independence Day speech announced that all the 33 Sainik Schools will ensure admitting girl cadets from the current academic year onwards. As per this, 10 per cent of the total seats of each year's admission will be reserved for girls in every Sainik Schools in the country.

Hitherto the Sainik School here had girl students, but it was only the children of the teachers and non-teaching staff, and this is the first time it has been opened up.