Sainik School, Kunjpura

Situated west of Kunjpura village, east of NH44 (historic Grand Trunk Road) bypassing Karnal city of Haryana, the school stands on a campus and is northeast of Karnal city and north of Delhi. ==History==

The school was started in July 1961 on the large property that originally belonged to the last Nawab of Kunjpura, Ibrahim Ali Khan, who had built it in the year 1900 to house the marriage party of his daughter. The property passed into the hands of the Defence Ministry as the nawab migrated to Pakistan after the independence of India and died in Lahore in 1952. Before becoming the Sainik School, it was also the 'sanctum sanctorum' of the prestigious 'Punjab Police Academy'. Sainik School, Kunjpura came into being in July 1961, at the behest of V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, who took personal interest in its inception. He handed over command of the school to Lt. Col. E J Simeon (1918–2007), a Corps of Signals officer stationed in Delhi at the time, who ran the school for the next seven years as its founder principal until his retirement from the army in 1967. He was succeeded by Col. Munindra Chandra as the Principal, whose contribution in sending a record number of cadets from the 1969 and 1970 batches of the NDA, subsequent principals were Group Captain Suresh Kumar, Col Arun Datta, Group Captain L.N.Sharma (now Air Vice Marshal L.N. Sharma AVSM (Retd.)), Col. YS Parmar, SM; Col V.D. Chandola (Retd.), and now Col Vijay Rana who is the present principal of the school. ==Overview==

Gradually, additions were made to the main building of the school in terms of new constructions. But the main building remained the ‘nerve centre’ of the school. In addition to the main building, the school has an NDA block (which serves as the new academic block), cadets Mess, the Manekshaw Auditorium, the Simeon Squash Court, gymnasium, riding school, swimming pool, athletics and sports fields, infirmary and residential areas for the staff and the boys. The Main Building houses the Administrative block, Office of the Principal, conference hall, library and sub-junior classes. The NDA block is the Academic block, housing the staff room, computer lab, lecture hall and multimedia room. The school also has a synthetic tennis court, several basketball, volleyball, football and hockey courts and grounds. Training of National Cadet Corps (NCC) is compulsory for all the boys of the school and they receive 'B' certificate in NCC before passing out from the school. The school is a ‘Dronacharya's Gurukul’ in the true sense of the word as it provides opportunities for growth and development in each and every segment of a student's life, may it be academics, co-curricular activities, extra-curricular activities or career guidance, thus helping in the students' all round development. ==Other sainik school in Haryana==

• Sainik School, Rewari, the second sainik school in Haryana became functional in 2009. • Sainik School, Matanhail at Matanhail in Jhajjar district was announced by the Haryana govt in 2018. Foundation stone was laid in 2003 by the then Defence Minister George Fernandez, but no progress was made. In 2018, with the efforts of Haryana Finance Minister, Captain Abhimanyu, the BJP govt of Haryana agreed to provide funds and of land in Matanhail and Rudiyawas villages for the establishment of this school. With this Haryana will be only state in India with 3 sainik schools. ==See also==