Lucknow, Feb 15 : Five girl cadets from UP Sainik School Lucknow have been selected by the Services Selection Board to join the elite National Defence Academy (NDA).

These five cadets will commence their training shortly. Apart from these girl cadets, an equal number of male cadets too cleared the exam but the spotlight was on girl cadets.

The girl cadets who have been selected include Hansi Malik, Priyanka, Sanskrti Sharma, Vaishnavi Tripathi and Jyotsna Yadav.

The training of these five girl cadets -- Hansi Malik, Priyanka, Sanskrti Sharma, Vaishnavi Tripathi and Jyotsna Yadav, selected by SSB from UP Sainik School Lucknow, will commence shortly.

Colonel Rajesh Raghav, the school principal, said, 'This is one of the highest ever selection of girls from a single school.'

'It is a rare achievement as five girls and five boys of the Captain Manoj Pandey UP Sainik School have brought laurels to the institution. They were motivated to work on a plethora of areas, like, general knowledge, communication and reasoning skills and a thorough understanding of the selection mechanism,' he said.

Of the 27 female seats in NDA, five were bagged by girl cadets of UP Sainik School, comprising an impressive 18.5 per cent of the total selection.

The UP Sainik School opened its gates for the girl cadets in 2018 losing its all-boys institution tag as 15 girl cadets were admitted for the first time in 57 years.

Since then, it is the first time that as many as five girl cadets cracked the exam. UP Sainik School was the first among Sainik Schools and military schools that had allowed enrollment of girl cadets.

Cadet Priyanka, 17, from Bulandshahr, had joined UP Sainik School four years ago with a dream to join the armed forces.

She said, 'SSB capsule module was especially designed for us. Experts were called to train us. Special classes were held during summer vacations for the entire batch of Class 12. A number of guides were called from time to time. Regular tests and interviews combined helped us crack the exam.'

Cadet Hansi Malik is from Meerut. She is happy that her dream to wear a uniform will soon become a reality. 'My day started with a 5:45 a.m. roll call for physical training and ended with a night roll call at the hostel at 9 p.m. It has been a huge transition,' she said.

Cadet Sanskriti Sharma and Vaishnavi Tripathi also said it was a life changing experience when they got admission here. It was all a very disciplined and measured lifestyle that cadets follow at Sainik School. The lessons learnt here will stay with us for life, they said.

/IANS