Khadoor Sahib, April 19
While Tarn Taran has emerged as the district with the worst sex ratio in Punjab, the girls at Shri Guru Angad Dev Institute of Careers and Courses, being run by Baba Sewa Singh Khadoor Sahibwale in this holy town (of the district), have outshone boys to the extent that now only they get admission here. And doors for boys at the institute lie shut.

Talking to The Tribune, Brigadier Tarlok Singh Aulakh (retd), institute in charge, said, “In all, 162 candidates from our institute have made it to the Army and paramilitary outfits like BSF, CRPF and CISF, besides the police, over the last couple of years. Of these, 135 are girls and only 27 boys…. A large number of boys from rural areas have fallen prey to drug addiction and those who have not are undisciplined. On the contrary, girls are disciplined, focused and hardworking. Initially, we admitted boys in our institute when it started in 2009, but with passage of time we stopped taking them, as they were not producing desired result.”

According to him, the basic foundation is weak among rural girls, too, but boys are worse. “The boys are not amenable to discipline, which is very important to make it to outfits like BSF, CRPF or police.”

Aulakh said the girls were so focused that at present too 40 were undergoing training even though currently there were no vacancies in military, paramilitary or police force. “Normally, we start our training programme when there are openings in these organizations.”

And about boys, he said they, too, must get attention. But, as theirs was voluntary organisation, they had limited capabilities and would need more funds to train them in a way that they fulfilled the requirement for the job, he said. Regarding the training programme, he said they start with physical training in the morning, followed by theory classes.

Harpreet Kaur, a student who made it to the BSF, said, “The institute provided me a platform to achieve my ambition. More such institutes should be opened, as it will help curb female foeticide.”

Meanwhile, the institute is all set to move into Nishan-e-Sikhi, an educational complex which was inaugurated here yesterday.