Charity school training helps Uttarakhand boy become officer

DEHRADUN: Among the cadets commissioned into the Indian Army on Saturday, 22-year-old Pankaj Joshi, hailing from Kapkote in Bageshwar, stood apart. The son of a farmer who made it to the military as a first-generation officer in his family, his parents attributed the success to the formative years of education Pankaj received at a charity school in the remote district of Uttarakhand, reports Shivani Azad.

Pankaj told TOI: "I received my primary education at a charity school named Maa Thakurer Joy Shishuleela in Kapkote. The school is run by two people from Bengal. There, as children, we were taught how to think, not what to think. That experience shaped my approach towards life." He added that his schooling at Sainik School Ghorakhal significantly contributed to his further development.

Pankaj's father Bhanu Prakash Joshi said, "I think what he learnt as a child in the school was invaluable. It had a profound impact on him. The family is already celebrating the prospect of yet another student from the same primary school in Kapkote graduating from the academy. "Next year, one more student from the same primary school will pass out from the Indian Military Academy," he said.