Thiruvananthapuram: Sanction has been given for three new Sainik Schools to come up in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju announced on Saturday.

"A school each in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have been given the nod. A few other states also have asked for a second Sainik School," said Raju while delivering his address at the Sainik School here, which is celebrating its golden jubilee.

Currently there are 24 Sainik Schools in 21 states with Bihar, Karnataka and Haryana having two schools each. Sikkim and Mizoram are yet to have one.

Raju said that the defence ministry is working hard to ease the burden of the parents who are now required to pay out increasing fees.

Speaking to reporters, he said: "The very fact this is a matter of high priority of the MoD should be seen from the fact that during the year 2010-11, there was an allocation of Rs.56 crore for all the Sainik Schools in the country, and in the present fiscal it has gone up to Rs.93 crore."

In 2000, the annual fee of a student in the Sainik School here was Rs.20,000 but in 2011 it has shot up to Rs.56,000. The scholarship amount provided by the state government to students has only increased marginally from Rs.14,000 to Rs.20,000.

Numerous representations have been made to the defence ministry, as the matter is in the central government's domain because the salaries and pensions for the teachers are based on central scales. IANS