The PPS Timeline
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1959 25th July decision made and sub-committee appointed Quarterly meeting of the Punjab Post War Services Reconstruction Fund held on the 25th July, One of the main decisions taken in that meeting was to set up a Doon type school for which a sum of Rs. 39 lakhs were to be endowed by the Fund. A Sub Committee with Lt. General Kalwant Singh as Chairman had been appointed to decide where the school should be located and to select a suitable Headmaster. 5th September First meeting of the Sainik School Sub Committee of the Post War Services Reconstruction Fund held at Chandigarh on the 5th September 1959, Present :- 1. Lt Gen Kalwant -Chairman 2. Lt Col Naunihal Singh Mann - Member 3. Major J.B. Bhagat Officiating SOI (Edn), HQs Western Command Simla -Member 4. Shri H.S. Achreja, IAS - Member Secretary (Secretary to Government, Punjab, Education Department, who had been nominated as his representative by the Chief Minister, Punjab was unable to attend). 20th November, 1959 Mr. J.K. Kate Appointment From :- Shri H.S. Achreja, IAS, Secretary to Governor and Honorary Secretary, Committee of Administration, Punjab Post War Services Reconstruction Fund. To Major R.Som Dutt, ABC, M.A. (Cantab), Headmaster, Lawrence School, Sanawar (Simla Hills). Dated Chandigarh, the 20th November, 1959. Subject : Headmaster Sainik School. Dear Sir, With reference to your letter dated the 22nd October 1959, forwarding application of Shir J.K. Kate, for the post of Headmaster, Sainik School, I am desired to inform you that the Committee of Administration of the Punjab Post War Services Reconstruction Fund, on recommendation of the Sainik School Sub Committee, have decided to appoint the applicant as the first Headmaster at a salary of Rs. 1300/- in the grade of Rs. 800-40-1000/50- with free furnished residential accommodation. It was further decided that Shri Kate should be asked to take charge of his office from the 1st of January 1960, and to arrange to draw up the prospectus and the connected literature of the School by the 31st January, 1960, as also to take further steps for the renovation and equipment of buildings, recruitment of staff, etc., so as to start the School from April, 1960. I am, therefore, desired to request you kindly to obtain his release / deputation and make his services available to the Sainik School Sub Committee on the 1st January, 1960, so that the programme laid down by the Committee is carried out without any delay. Shri Kate may be asked to report for duty to the undersigned at Chandigarh, where his Headquarters will be located for a few days before shifting to Nabha which has been selected as the site for the School. Yours faithfully, Secretary to Governor and Honorary Secretary, Punjab Post War Services Reconstruction Fund. No. : PWF/954 dated 20.11.1959 Finally, Mr. Kate accepted the challenge and signed a one-year probation contract offered to him by the Sub-Committee. Mr JK Kate joins and history begins. He formally joined as Headmaster on 30th December, 1959, and reported to the Governor’s Secretary. He then returned to Sanawar and drafted the rules, regulations, prospectus and advertisements for various posts. 29th January 1960 Meeting of the Committee Appointed to take Preparatory Steps to Start the Sainik School :- The following were present at the meeting held at 11 a.m. on 29th January 1960 at the Chairman’s House. 1. Lt. General Kalwant Singh. 2. Shri H.S. Achreja 3. Shri J.K. Kate. Follow up1960 Though Mr Cowell had promised to join PPS, the credit for officially reporting first on duty goes to Mr Mukut Narain Tankha who had started his career as a Geography teacher at Modern School, New Delhi. Though the exact dates are unknown, both Mr Cowell and Mr Tankha joined PPS in the month of March, 1960. It was the trio of Mr Kate, Mr Cowell and Mr Tankha that prepared the blueprint for functioning of the school. When Mr Kate returned to Nabha to take charge, all he found were two large, vacant and untidy buildings. He borrowed a chair from the Sub Divisional Officer and started his office in the porch of the Guest House. Though Mr Cowell had promised to join PPS, the credit for officially reporting first on duty goes to Mr Mukut Narain Tankha who had started his career as a Geography teacher at Modern School, New Delhi. Though the exact dates are unknown, both Mr Cowell and Mr Tankha joined PPS in the month of March, 1960. It was the trio of Mr Kate, Mr Cowell and Mr Tankha that prepared the blueprint for functioning of the school. Since furniture was not available at the time they joined, the legend has it that they would sit on the marble staircase in the Guest House and chalk out the details. Brown and yellow were the prominent colours in the New Secretariat building, so the school dress was envisaged on the same pattern. It was decided that Sikh boys should be encouraged to wear turbans so they could master the art of tying a turban at a young age. Sainik School, Nabha, being a residential public school in character, an important decision had to be taken regarding ‘Houses’. Both Mr Kate and Mr Cowell had come from Lawrence School Sanawar, and it was quite natural that Sanawar was the source of inspiration for this crucial decision. Sanawar has four houses – Himalaya, Vindhya, Nilagiri and Siwalik representing prominent north Indian mountain ranges. For Sainik School Nabha, Mr Kate hit upon the idea of four main rivers of Punjab i.e., Beas, Jumna , Ravi and Sutlej. HOUSE COLOUR BEAS Blue JUMNA Yellow RAVI Red SUTLEJ Green To identify boys from different houses, it was proposed that the boys shall use under-turban of their respective house colour. However, since this method did not work for non-sikh boys, an additional house colour stripe was added to the school tie to address the problem later. Though it is noteworthy here that presently students wear a uniform school tie irrespective of their house. Mr Cowell, being an academician, planned the curriculum and time table. Mr Tankha, on the other hand was a versatile genius. A passionate and lively geography teacher, a trained mountaineer, a good artist, photographer, and an excellent all-round sportsman, who could play the harmonium and sing, he played a vital role in the early years. He would mark the fields meticulously and later on organize the athletic meets almost single-handedly. His six feet four- inch frame and good looks endeared him to the students and everybody in the school looked up to him, quite literally. Mr Kate decided to use the New Secretariat building as the academic block and boys’ hostel, and the Guest House as staff quarters. Gradually, the equipment and furniture arrived and the school machinery was set in motion. The Refractory, clothing store, and Infirmary were set up, electrical fittings were installed by an able electrician, Suraj Bhan, who worked round the clock to have the work finished on time for the start of the first academic year. Meanwhile, the response for admission was overwhelming and applications came pouring in large numbers since the Sainik School, Nabha, was the first school of its kind in the state of undivided Punjab (including present Haryana and a part of Himachal Pradesh). To accommodate the majority of applicants, 130 seats were offered in classes 5 to 8 in the first year, though the original plan was to allot only 80 seats in three classes, i.e., 5 to 7. Special interviews were conducted for the children of Ex-servicemen and defence personnel to identify the deserving candidates eligible for scholarship. In the very first year, 29 full scholarships of Rs.1, 500 per annum and six half scholarships of Rs. 750 each were awarded On 7th April, 1960, The students gradually began to trickle in. B-4, Rajinder Singh Dhillon was the first student to report in school. However, Manjit Grewal R-4 says he was the first to pay the School fee. Houses were allotted at random basis at the time of admission and the following students without realizing that they had booked their place in PPS history by officially being the first students in their respective houses. B 1 Om Prakash Nandrajog J 1 Surinder Gupta R 1 Pritpal Singh S 1 Parminder Singh Nagra To start a new school with no staff, no infrastructure, and no students demanded vision, intelligence and the co-operation of a dedicated team. He began to build one with Mr Samuel Charles Cowell, an English teacher, who had recently retired from Sanawar. On Mr Kate’s request to join him at Nabha and help him in kickstarting the new venture, Mr Cowell came out of his retirement to lend a helping hand to his former colleague. Mr Cowell had the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian at Sanawar and he brought every bit of it to Nabha. Interviews were also conducted for the post of Senior Master, teachers, administrative staff, matrons, nursing sister and other ancillary staff. Meanwhile, the government of Punjab formally constituted a Board to preside over the functioning of the School. The Board retained most of the members of the Sub-Committee involved in selecting the buildings at Nabha and appointing Mr Kate as Headmaster. His excellency ,the Governor of Punjab was to be the chairman thus giving some autonomy tp PPS from the Govt. FOUNDER MEMBERS OF PPS NABHA CHAIRMAN H.E. V N Gadgil, Honourable Governor of Punjab MEMBERS Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, Chief Minister, Punjab Shri E.N.