(b) These are fully residential schools run on public school lines. The schools provide all facilities for overall personality development. NCC is compulsory upto class-XII.

(c) They offer a common CBSE curriculum and the medium of instruction is English, though English is not a pre-requisite for admission.

(d) Most Sainik Schools are designed for 525 cadets spread over from class-VI to XII. However strength of the school can vary keeping in view available capacity and after taking permission of the Hony Secy.

(e) These are financially self sustaining institutions and all expenditure on establishment, training and pension are met out of fee collected from the students.

(f) All schools have three service officers Principal, Headmaster and Registrar. Principals are of the rank of Col, Headmasters are of the rank of Lt Col and Registrars are Major. These may be of equivalent rank from the three services.

• Sainik Schools are supported by Central and State funding and committed to bring public school education to the common man and function as feeder institutions to the National Defence Academy.
  
• The formidable infrastructure for academic and co-curricular development, the well equipped laboratories–separate for each science subject, induction of boys right from the junior classes into practical work and experimentation (as opposed to mere demonstration by the teachers) are the most enviable facilities without any doubt. Unlike most other schools where practical work is undertaken merely to pass the hurdle of the practical examinations at the Board level, in Sainik Schools learning by doing methods are followed throughout to inculcate an experimental and problem solving skills in the cadets. For the cadets in Sainik Schools laboratories are as familiar as their class rooms. Apart from the need to supplement theory, students are permitted and even encouraged, to undertake additional projects of their own choice.
  
• There is complete academic freedom, subject to the day's tough schedule. Stress is laid not on learning by rote and on short term, though glamorous achievements like cent percent pass or the number of distinctions and first classes achieved by the school but rather on learning in-depth, for the most enduring success at higher levels and in various careers open to them. A follow-up of the track records of over forty thousand students who have passed out of the portals of Sainik Schools confirms the not-so-popularly held belief that lack of brilliance in the earlier years does not necessarily presage its continuity in later years and also vice-versa. Unlike ordinary schools and colleges, the Sainik Schools alumni are fairly active, have instituted many endowments, awards and trophies, many of them in the hallowed memory of their companions who laid down their lives in the service of the Motherland.
  
• The tough schedule of work, beginning with PT in the early morning and concluding with studies in the dormitory fairly late in the night; optimum utilization of time and opportunities, as well as close contact with teachers, even outside the classrooms are admittedly too demanding for all in the beginning but the mind and body soon get attuned to the regimen. Pressure and tension in most cases bring out putative talents and gifts although it is true that a few of the entrants in Class VI get withdrawn or dropout. The same is true of new entrants to the faculty who join hoping for a cushy soft job with plenty of free time and holidays, as is common in the profession elsewhere.
  
• A campus life totally free from linguistic, communal and social bias and is well insulated from the sordid strife and discord which bedevil student life outside.
  
• The profusion of facilities for games, sports and even martial arts is not to make a few champions or to publicise success in inter-school tournaments, instead, it is to expose the cadets to team games like Football, Hockey, Cricket, Volleyball and Basketball so that constant practice would engender personality development and competitive abilities in so many ways–invaluable assets always at a premium for a successful career in the services. Schools also offer the advantage of training in Equitation, Shooting and Swimming as well.
  
• The obligatory NCC training, adventure courses, route marches, cross-country racing, ceremonial parades, pride in uniform and smart turn-out, the library habit, group discussions, debates, cultural activities–all these immensely help in personality development.
  
• The true worth of any educational institution lies in the quality of the student-teacher interaction. It is indeed mutually beneficial–for the students in their pursuit of excellence and for the teachers in drawing out the best from each (teacher). This is further enhanced by a harmonious blending of the civilian and military ethos, perceptions and value systems. The filial affection cherished by the alumni for their alma mater and their mentors is in refreshing contrast from what is prevalent elsewhere.

     An active alumni association has local chapters in most of the cities in the country and quite a few outside country too. Every year there is a Reunion in the school campus. The Old Boys Association (OBA) has instituted many endowments, awards and trophies many of them in the hallowed memory of their compatriots lost in war. Gifts of books, games equipment and motivational material are all annual features.