Chandigarh
12 November 2018
DIVYA AZAD
Georgians’ Association (North), an association of former students of King George’s Schools now renamed Rashtriya Military Schools, has decided to join the campaign for safe driving and making roads safer for all. Georgians from the King George’s Royal Indian Military School, Chail came together at a reunion organised at Defence Services Officers Institute (DSOI) in Sector 36 here today.
Georgians today resolved to take up social issues and would focus on generating traffic awareness and safety particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. It was decided to organise camps to distribute safety helmets and other gear for cyclists and rickshaw pullers.
The campaign would start in Chandigarh and then would be taken up across the Tricity. Hundreds of old students of the schools, which are managed directly by the ministry of defence, reside in the Tricity and have volunteered to join the campaign.
A spokesman for the Association said they would be approaching the SP Traffic, Chandigarh, to discuss the ways in which the Association can join the campaign. He said that the Chandigarh Traffic Police was doing a good job in spreading awareness among the drivers and other road users.
Veterans included those who were moved from Jhelum school in Pakistan to its counterpart in Jalandhar, besides highly decorated officers of Army. This brought back nostalgic memories as the Georgians recalled those times when they were together.
There are five Rashtriya Military schools in the country and they are run directly under the Ministry of Defence. These are located at Ajmer, Bengaluru, Belgaum, Chail and Dholpur.
These were established as King George’s Royal Indian Military schools to take care of the education of the sons of defence personnel. First two such schools were started in 1925 at Jalandhar and Jhelum (now in Pakistan).
In 1952, the schools were reorganized on Public School lines and admissions were made open to the sons of Defence Service Officers and civilians. In 1954, the school became member of the Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC) and continues to be an active member till date. The schools were renamed Military Schools in 1966 and its old motto, ‘Play the Game’ was replaced with ‘Sheelem Param Bhushanam’ which means Character is the Highest Virtue. On 25th Jun 2007, the schools got their present name “Rashtriya Military School”. The school has several of its alumni occupying high positions in the Armed Forces and in other sectors doing stellar service to the motherland.
ABOUT THE SCHOOLS
The schools are category ‘A’ establishment of the Army and are administrated by the Directorate General of Military Training at IHQ of MOD(Army). The Central Governing Council(CGC), headed by the Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence is the apex body for these schools.
The school now located at Chail, closest from Chandigarh, was renamed as King George’s School and shifted to Nowgong (Bundel khand) in August 1952 where it was housed in Old Kitchner College buildings. After Independence it was felt that these schools should impart liberal education and should have a wider social basis. Consequently these schools were re-organised in Sep 1952 and half of the seats of total of 300 were thrown open to sons of Civilians and Armed Forces Officers. The school was renamed again as Chail Military School with effect from 01 Jan 1966, Military School Chail from 1996 and is now called as Rashtriya Military School Chail.
Georgian Association North came into existence around 1998, with initial efforts of Cols Amrik, Dhaliwal and Kashyap. In twenty years the membership has grown to around 170,many from other countries. Col Grewal ably managed it for about eight years. Presently Mr V Pubby is guiding the association.