Last verified: 5 November 2026. The AISSEE 2027 dates, application fee and exam pattern below are CONFIRMED from the NTA public notice dated 3 November 2026, as reported by News18, The Telegraph and The Times of India. The school’s location at Tilaiya Dam in Koderma, its 1963 founding, its Classes VI–XII range and its likely vacancy figures are CONFIRMED from the school’s own overview page and its Wikipedia entry. Seat counts and the annual school fee are REPORTED by admission directories, not confirmed by the school or the bulletin — they are labelled as such wherever they appear, and the 2027 seat matrix should be checked in the AISSEE bulletin.
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Jharkhand has one school under the Sainik Schools Society: Sainik School Tilaiya, at Tilaiya Dam in Koderma district. It is a fully residential, CBSE-affiliated school, and it admits to Classes 6 and 9 through one exam only — the All India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination (AISSEE), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). There is no school-level test, no walk-in admission, and no separate Jharkhand entrance exam for this school.
That single-school fact shapes everything for Jharkhand parents. The 67% home-state pool (explained below) means a Jharkhand-domicile child is competing first against other Jharkhand children for most of Tilaiya’s seats, not against the whole country — but the competition for that one school is concentrated too.
If you are reading this in the AISSEE 2027 window, the immediate point is simple: applications opened on 3 November 2026 and close on 2 December 2026 at 11:50 PM, with a late-fee window from 3 to 6 December. The exam is on 31 January 2027. Everything in this guide is built around that calendar.
| Fact | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| School | Sainik School Tilaiya, Tilaiya Dam, Koderma, Jharkhand — 825413 | CONFIRMED |
| Founded | 16 September 1963; first principal Lt Col L. E. G. Smith | CONFIRMED |
| Type | Fully residential, CBSE-affiliated, under the Sainik Schools Society | CONFIRMED |
| Classes | VI to XII | CONFIRMED |
| Entry classes | Class 6 and Class 9 | CONFIRMED |
| Entry exam | AISSEE, conducted by NTA, pen-and-paper (OMR) mode | CONFIRMED |
| Medium | English | CONFIRMED |
| Enrolment | 850+ cadets | CONFIRMED |
| After the written test | E-counselling and a medical examination | CONFIRMED |
| Class 6 intake | Likely 120 seats, per the school’s own overview (anticipated, approximate) | REPORTED |
| Class 9 intake | Likely 20 seats, per the school’s own overview (anticipated, approximate) | REPORTED |
| Annual school fee | Around Rs 1,64,798, as reported by Careers360’s 2027 list | REPORTED, not confirmed |
Two cautions on that table. First, the Class 6 figure of 120 and the Class 9 figure of 20 come from the school’s own overview page — but the school itself calls them anticipated and approximate, worked out from the previous year’s vacancies and subject to change. The 2027 seat matrix in the AISSEE bulletin is the authority. Second, the fee figures in directories conflict: one list puts the annual fee at about Rs 1,64,798, another at about Rs 87,000. Budget from the higher figure, and confirm the exact amount from the school’s own fee notice before you commit. The school’s official site is sainikschooltilaiya.org.
Tilaiya is one of the older Sainik Schools — founded in 1963, when Jharkhand was still part of Bihar — and a recognised feeder to the National Defence Academy and the Indian Naval Academy. In 2020 it became one of the first five Sainik Schools in the country to admit girl cadets, with the first girls joining in the 2021–22 session. That matters for Jharkhand parents of daughters: the 10% girls’ quota in Class 6 applies here too.
Under the standard Sainik School reservation pattern, 67% of seats are reserved for candidates from the state or Union Territory where the school is located — here, Jharkhand — and the remaining 33% are open to candidates from other states and Union Territories. Within those pools, the standard pattern reserves 25% of seats for children of service personnel including ex-servicemen, 15% for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes.
Do the rough maths on the school’s own likely figures. If Class 6 has around 120 seats, roughly 80 of them sit in the Jharkhand pool first. That is the single biggest advantage a Jharkhand-domicile child holds in this exam, and it is decided by one document: the domicile certificate. If your child’s domicile certificate is not ready, or the name on it does not match the birth certificate and the school records exactly, fix that this week. Our AISSEE form-mistakes guide lists the errors parents keep making, and the domicile mismatch is near the top.
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Online applications open | 3 November 2026 | CONFIRMED |
| Last date to apply (no late fee) | 2 December 2026, 11:50 PM | CONFIRMED |
| Late-fee window (Rs. 500 extra) | 3–6 December 2026 | CONFIRMED |
| Correction window | 7–9 December 2026 | CONFIRMED |
| Exam city announcement | 11 January 2027 | CONFIRMED |
| Admit card download | 25 January 2027 | CONFIRMED |
| Exam day | 31 January 2027 | CONFIRMED |
| Result | To be announced | EXPECTED |
The application fee is Rs. 850 for General, OBC-NCL and wards of defence personnel and ex-servicemen, and Rs. 700 for SC/ST candidates. The exam is pen-and-paper OMR, multiple-choice, with no negative marking — a wrong answer costs nothing, so your child should attempt every question.
The exam pattern is the same one parents have prepared against for years. Class 6 runs 150 minutes, 125 questions, 300 marks — Maths 50 questions for 150 marks, Language 25 for 50, Intelligence 25 for 50, and General Knowledge 25 for 50. Class 9 runs 180 minutes, 150 questions, 400 marks — Maths 50 for 200, and English, Intelligence, General Science and Social Science 25 questions for 50 marks each, in English only. The qualifying bar is 25% in each section and 40% aggregate (not applicable to SC/ST candidates).
1. Apply, don’t wait. The form is open now at exams.nta.nic.in/sainik-school-society. The 2 December deadline looks far away; the families who miss it are the ones who planned to apply “next week” four times in a row. Apply in the first week, then use the correction window only if you genuinely need it.
2. Get the documents in one sitting. Birth certificate, domicile certificate, caste certificate if applicable, the child’s photograph and signature in the format the bulletin specifies, and the study certificate from the current school. Photograph and signature rejections are the most avoidable reason a form gets stuck — and the full AISSEE notification explainer walks through the whole schedule.
3. Put Tilaiya first — and list backups honestly. In counselling you will rank schools. If Tilaiya is your first choice, put it first. But list the other schools you would genuinely accept, because an empty second preference is a wasted seat if the Tilaiya cut-off lands above your child’s score.
4. Plan the exam city now. Jharkhand exam cities are listed in the bulletin; the city is announced on 11 January. If your family is in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad or Bokaro, check which cities the bulletin lists and whether travel is realistic on a January morning. Admit cards come on 25 January — six days before the exam — so there is no time to fix a travel problem then.
5. Study to the pattern, not to the syllabus. For Class 6, Maths is half the marks. One full 150-minute paper every Sunday morning, phone in another room, is worth more than three extra hours of chapter reading. For Class 9, Maths is again half the marks, and Social Science is where most children leak marks on dates and concepts they half-remember.
Jharkhand parents often ask whether they should also consider schools in neighbouring states. The honest answer: the 67% home-state quota makes Tilaiya your best statistical bet by a wide margin, and the neighbouring West Bengal guide — Sainik School Purulia — shows the same logic working in reverse for West Bengal children. Our state-wise directory of all Sainik Schools lists every school if you want to compare, and the same pattern holds in our latest guide for Jammu and Kashmir: one home school, one big quota advantage, one exam.
The other comparison that matters is with the New Sainik Schools. The 2027 notification covers Class 6 in 80 approved New Sainik Schools and Class 9 in 40 of them. Whether any of those are in Jharkhand is a bulletin question — check the school list in the AISSEE Information Bulletin rather than trusting a directory.
How many Sainik Schools are there in Jharkhand?
One school under the Sainik Schools Society: Sainik School Tilaiya in Koderma district. It admits to Classes 6 and 9 through AISSEE. Check the AISSEE bulletin for any approved New Sainik Schools in Jharkhand.
What is the home-state quota for Sainik School Tilaiya?
Under the standard Sainik School reservation pattern, 67% of seats are reserved for candidates domiciled in Jharkhand, and 33% for candidates from other states and Union Territories. Confirm the exact 2027 seat matrix in the AISSEE bulletin.
What are the age limits for Sainik School Tilaiya?
For Class 6, age 10 to 12 years as of 31 March 2027, studying in Class 5. For Class 9, age 13 to 15 years as of 31 March 2027, studying in Class 8. Both boys and girls can apply for Classes 6 and 9.
How many seats does Sainik School Tilaiya have in Class 6?
The school’s own overview page says the likely number of vacancies each year is 120 for Class 6 and 20 for Class 9, but calls these anticipated and approximate. The 2027 seat matrix in the AISSEE Information Bulletin is the authority.
What is the fee at Sainik School Tilaiya?
No confirmed 2027 fee figure was found this run. Careers360’s 2027 fees list reports Rs 1,64,798 for Tilaiya, but other directories report different figures. Treat them as reported only and check the school’s own fee notice before budgeting.
How do Jharkhand parents apply for Sainik School Tilaiya?
Through the national AISSEE route only: apply online at exams.nta.nic.in/sainik-school-society between 3 November and 2 December 2026, with a late-fee window from 3 to 6 December 2026. The exam is on 31 January 2027.
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