Thiruvananthapuram : For the first time in 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) here 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, a Defence release said here on Wednesday.

The 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 is being upgraded significantly for the last one year to welcome girl cadets to the campus. Renovated temporary accommodation for accommodating the first batch of girl cadets is nearing completion, the release said.

Admission of girl cadets in Sainik schools was a successful experimentation in the academic year 2018-19 by Sainik School Society, in Mizoram and subsequently different states of the country took the initiative of admitting girls in their Sainik schools, promoting the spirit within girls to join 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 admission of girl cadets from the current academic year onwards.

As per this, 10 percent of the total seats of each year's admission will be reserved for girls in every Sainik school in the country, the release added.