Govt wants more TN students to join armed forces

Coimbatore: If the efforts of the state school education department yield results, more students from Tamil Nadu would be joining the

armed forces

in the coming years.

The department has asked district chief education officers (CEOs) to instruct schools in their respective districts to create awareness among parents and students of Class X to Class XII on job opportunities available in the Indian Navy and other defence services.

The government is also likely to offer free coaching for rural students, on the lines of coaching for NEET, to crack the competitive defence examinations.

In the October 28 communication sent to all chief education officers, the state government has sought suggestions on starting free coaching centres to train rural students to get employment in this unexplored area.

The education department’s move comes after an Indian Navy officer serving in the Naval NCC urged the state government to offer training to rural Tamil medium students as they find it difficult to clear the Defence recruitment tests conducted in Hindi and English. Citing lucrative jobs opportunities in the armed forces, Captain D Senthil Kumar said that a basic training on going about the entrance tests will help students end up with a regular job.

The Indian Navy has increased the annual intake of sailors, which is the entry-level position of soldiers, from 2,000 to 7,000. But less than 2% of candidates from Tamil Nadu are joining the Indian Navy. Even these candidates are from cities and there is a negligible contribution from the rural areas.

“Most children in the higher secondary classes drop out in search of early employment over poverty. Since armed forces offer better prospects at an early age, by offering a push in terms of clearing defence recruitment test, the dropout rate can be brought down as students will be assured of jobs,” said Coimbatore district chief education officer N Geetha.

A Surendren, Director, Defence academy Chennai, an institute to train aspirants to armed forces, said schools hardly educate children on the opportunities in the armed forces. Most of them come to know about the forces only in their colleges. However, armed forces recruit candidates soon after their Class XII even for officer cadres, he said.