Sainik School Goalpara, Assam, India, was established on 12 November 1964, under the Sainik Schools Society, New Delhi under the Ministry of Defence. The idea of Sainik schools were presented by the then Defence Minister V.K.Menon in 1961. The school was initially established in the town of Goalpara which is a district headquarter. Subsequently, the school was shifted to its present location at Rajapara Village in Mornai in Goalpara District. Initially 18 Sainik schools were founded. Sainik School Goalpara celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 12 Nov 2014. It was a year-long celebration, celebrated with great gusto with the involvement of its Old Boys Association. The school is located in the north-eastern part of India. In this north eastern region of India, there are two more Sainik Schools, one at Imphal, Manipur and the other one at Punglwa in Nagaland. The school is situated 18 km from Goalpara town en route capital Guwahati. The nearest police station is Mornoi and railway station is Goalpara. It is a fully residential school having classes from standard 6th to 12th. Besides the school there is a kindergarten school. Admission to the school is done for two standards - 6th and 9th. The average strength of each class is 90. The aim of the school is to prepare students for the National Defence Academy exam. Till date more than 200 students have joined NDA and around 500 joined the armed forces through other exams like CDS.
House system
There are eight houses for accommodation. These are divided in three groups- sub-junior, junior, senior. Class VI and VII are sub-juniors. Class VIII and IX are juniors. Class X to XII are seniors.
Abhimanyu House is named after Arjun's son Abhimanyu, accommodating Class VI and VII.
Bhaskar House is named after the mighty sun and accommodates Class VI and VII students.
Anirudhha House is for Class VIII students.
Eklavya House is named after a young prince of the Nishadha and accommodates class VIII and IX boys.
Chilarai, Udaygiri, Lachit, Lohit are the senior houses, accommodating class X to class XII. Udaygiri has a tradition of winning cross country race for more than 36 years. They believe in the words of Vivekananda, "Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached."
Besides these seven houses there is a mess and auditorium. The school building is in two parts- the Main building and the Science Block. Main block is a 3-story building having classes for class VI to X. All offices of the school are situated in this block. Science block has classrooms for class XI-XII. The block has science laboratories.
Structure
Sainik Schools have three officers from the defence forces. They are Principal, Headmaster and Registrar.
The Principal is the supreme authority of the school, appointed by the Ministry of Defence. The duration of principal's tenure is not fixed but is generally 2–3 years. Present principal of the school is Capt. I.N.S. Edwin Jyothirajan.
The Vice Principal is the head of academic affairs. There are around 50 teaching staff along with 35 subordinates. There is a Senior Master whose work is to manage all academic activities and act as a liaison between teachers and Headmaster.
The Adm. officer is chief of all activities except academics. He is responsible for infrastructure development of the school.
Activities
Sporting activities
There are sports grounds inside school campus. There are five football fields, eight basketball courts, six volleyball courts, two lawn tennis courts, two cricket grounds, four handball grounds; besides these there is an eight-lane 400-meter track for athletics which includes venues for other track and field events like high jump, triple jump, long jump, disc throw, shot put throw, javelin throw, and pole-vault. The annual sports meet is held in December in which best house for athletics meet is judged on the basis of all track and field events. School also is equipped with a best designed swimming pool. In each session, activities are organised. Each sport has a championship and the winner is called the champion of that sport. A trophy is given to each champion at the Annual Prize Distribution ceremony being held before winter break.
Academic events
Events like debate, extempore, recitation, general knowledge quiz, and essay writing are organised in three languages - English, Hindi, Assamese at each three levels - senior, junior, sub-junior.
Sainik School Goalpara has wing of the NCC. The 27th Company of the NCC is located inside the school premises to train the cadets. Each Friday afternoon there are NCC classes for 90 minutes. The school participates in the Republic Day Parade, New Delhi. The cadets receive an NCC 'A' certificate after class X and NCC 'B'certificate after class XII.
Admissions
Boys are admitted to class VI and IX, between the ages of 10–11 years for class VI and 13–14 years for class IX as of 2 July of the year of admission. Admission is through the all India Entrance Examination which is held in the third week of January. This is followed by interview and medical examination in April/May. Boys selected are called for admission in June.
