Avinash Gavas knew he wanted to join the armed forces when he joined the Sainik School in Kolhapur, in 6 th standard. On Saturday, he passed out of the Cadets' Training Wing at the College of Military Engineering and is a month away from being commissioned into the Indian Army. Gavas was one of the four distinguished cadets out of the passing out batch; he was awarded a medal for the best performance in outdoor training on Saturday.

Out of the four award winning cadets on Satuday, three had been to sainik schools. Best All round gentlemen cadets award was given to Shiraj Kapoor from Himachal Pradesh, while Best Sportsperson Award was given to L C Singh, from Imphal – both of them also went to Sainik Schools. “ We are already used to this sort of a routine for having gone to sainik schools; this may have helped us in excelling,” said Kapoor on Saturday. Out of the batch of 21 mechanical engineers who passed out on Satuday as part of the 14 th CTW program, only three had been to sainik schools, said Kapoor. And all three were award winning cadets on Saturday. The other award winning cadet, Wing Cadet captain Rakesh Singh was also awarded the Commandant's Gold Medal for topping the batch; he is a product of an Army School.

“Sainik School students may have an edge atleast in sports and other outdoor activities; so probably it helps. This time it is a coincidence that three award winning cadets are from sainik schools,” said Col T P S Randhawa, commander of the CTW course. He added that other students like Rakesh Singh -a non sainik school product, had also done well in the course. Out of the 160 students in six terms, only 17 were from sainik schools, he added.

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