Children
Schools
1. It was only
when the Indian Army was born in its present form at the dawn of Indian
independence that family life really took roots in India’s cantonments.
Soldiers – Officers, Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and men alike
were dependent on the existing educational system in the country for
education of their wards. As more and more families moved into our
cantonments, the existing private schools slowly became unaffordable to
soldiers. Even the Central Schools (Kendriya Vidyalaya) did not provide
guaranteed admission to the children of soldiers who were frequently
transferred from one station to another.
2. The problem
became more acute with the massive expansion of Indian Army from
1962-1973. A few regimental schools mushroomed all over India to cater
to the growing aspirations of all ranks. However these schools did not
offer the quality that our Officers, JCOs and other ranks were aspiring
for.
3. Realising the
importance of children’s education as a major welfare activity, the COAS
took a considered decision to establish a chain of schools in various
regional commands. This was announced on Army Day – 15 Jan 1980 by the
COAS. Thus was born the school system of the Indian Army. By the time,
28 Regimental and 4 High schools had already come up and an umbrella
organization was required to co-ordinate the functioning of these
schools. To meet the requirement, Army Welfare Education Originisation (AWEO)
was created under Adjutant General’s Branch. This organization was
registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 on 29 Apr
1983 as Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) being a statutory
requirement for affiliation to CBSE. The Apex Body of AWES is the Board
of Governors (BOG) with the Chief of Army Staff as the Patron-in-Chief
and Army Commanders as Patrons. The day to day work, in pursuance of BOG
directions, was to be carried out by an Executive Committee headed by
the Adjutant General(AG) and a retired Officer appointed as full time
secretary of AWES. This secretariat which started functioning under AG’s
Branch as CW-9 later metamorphosed into the present day HQ AWES under a
retired officer of Major General rank.
4. The schools,
initially named as Army High schools, were later christened as Army
Schools. All schools were redesignated as Army Public Schools on 01 Jul
2011. There are 134 Army Public Schools across cantonments and military
stations in India, all following NCERT curriculum and affiliated to CBSE,
New Delhi. The schools are administered by local formation commanders
through School Administration and Management Committees (SAMC). From a
modest 20000 students population in 1987, APSs have grown to a mammoth
systems with a students strength of approximately 2.3 lac and 8500
teaching staff. On an average 5000 students are added every year.
Professional
Colleges
5. 1994 marks a milestone in the history of AWES. Late Gen BC Joshi, then COAS took a bold and far reaching decision to venture into professional
education by initially setting up one Engineering and Medical College
each. Unfortunately, in his lifetime, he could only see Army Institute
of Technology (AIT), Pune to fruition. From that little seed sown in
1994, the College system has grown to 11 Colleges including the late
General’s dream college - Army College of Medical Sciences (ACMS), Delhi
Cantt which opened in 2008. The others include Hotel Management and
catering Technology, Management, Law, Dental Sciences, Education,
Fashion Design and Nursing.
FDRC
6. The Schools are as good as the teachers. To ensure high quality of
education in schools, empowerment of teachers assumes paramount
importance. Education being a very dynamic field, teachers need to be
equipped with tools, techniques and methods to enable them to make
teaching-learning process a joyful experience for the children. It was
to meet this requirement that Faculty Development and Research Centre (FDRC)
was set up in March 2009. FDRC new conducts workshops for teachers of
not only APSs and Army Pre Primary Schools but also of Sainik Schools,
Rashtriya Military Schools and schools run by Assam Rifles schools, NSG
, Navy and Air Force. Govt of Nepal, Andaman & Nicobar Administration
and some private schools have also been sending their teachers to FDRC.
In addition to a highly competent integral faculty, FDRC also invites
experts in the field of education to instruct the teachers, FDRC has
emerged as a `Centre of Excellence’ in teacher empowerment.
Army Pre
Primary Schools (APPS)
7. While the school and College education systems were taking rapid
strides, pre school education was quietly evolving in the background
under the aegis of the local formations. In 2005, the Army Pre school
Educations Council (APEC) was set up under Army Wives Welfare
Association to design a sound Early Child Care & Education (ECCE)
programme for keeping with the APEC guidelines all these schools were
redesignated as Army Pre Primary Schools (APPS). These schools
controlled by the local formations are provided curriculum support,
teacher training and books by AWES.
Infrastructure
8. With persistent efforts and whole hearted support from the Adjutant
General and Quartermaster General, our journey from vintage barracks to
modern buildings began in 2002-03. Children schools authorized under the
scales of accommodation by Govt of India are being constructed under
Annual Major Works Programme (AMWP) to run these children schools now
designated as Army Public Schools. The Colleges however are being
created out of Adjutant General’s Welfare Fund.
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