Last verified: 14 October 2026 (Wednesday, latenoon). This is an aggregation piece: every tally below was published by another outlet between 11 and 13 October 2026 and is marked as reported, not officially confirmed — the schools have not published consolidated press notes on their own websites. Sainik School Amethi’s reported 20 qualifiers (a YouTube report only, as of this morning) did not meet our two-source rule and are excluded from the total. Figures marked CONFIRMED come from the cited outlets; anything EXPECTED is our interpretation.
Five days of result announcements, five schools, one examination cycle. The written stage of the UPSC NDA & NA Examination (II) 2026 — held on 13 September, result declared 9 October — has produced the strongest single-week showing by the Sainik School system in recent memory. Here is every reported tally, in one place:
| School | Reported written-stage clears | Reported breakdown | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sainik School Kalikiri | 50 | 41 of 79 current Class XII batch + 9 previous batch, incl. 3 girls | The Hindu, 11 Oct 2026 |
| Sainik School Ghorakhal | 44 | 30 current Class XII (2026–27) + 14 March 2026 batch | SSBCrack, 12 Oct 2026 |
| Sainik School Nalanda | 23 | Not separately reported | Times of India, 11 Oct 2026 |
| Mai Bhago AFPI, Mohali | 17 | All girls; institute’s highest-ever tally | Indian Express / The Tribune, via our 13 Oct report |
| Sainik School Punglwa | 9 | 7 current batch + 2 senior cadets | NEWire.in, 13 Oct 2026 |
| Reported total | 143 |
That total is a floor, not a ceiling: it counts only schools whose results were reported in the press. A sixth school, Sainik School Amethi, was reported to have 20 written-stage qualifiers by a local video report four days ago — but with no second independent source available, we have left it out of the table rather than print an unverified number. If a print or wire report confirms it, this scoreboard gets updated.
Sainik Schools clear NDA writtens every cycle — that is their core business. What makes this week stand out is the breadth: four states (Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Nagaland) plus Punjab’s girls’ institute, and two record performances in a single result season. Kalikiri’s 50 is the school’s best-ever NDA result, and the three girls from its first-ever female batch clearing the written in the same year is a milestone the system will be talking about for a while. Ghorakhal’s 44 — with 14 of them from the batch that passed out in March and kept preparing on their own — shows the pipeline working even after the school gate closes.
None of these 143 cadets has joined the NDA yet. Clearing the written paper earns them the right to face the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview — five days of psychology tests, group tasks and the personal interview that filters out the majority of written qualifiers. Then come medical tests, and finally the merit list for the 158th NDA Course and the 120th Indian Naval Academy Course, commencing 1 July 2027 (CONFIRMED for this cycle via the Times of India).
So the honest reading: 143 is the number of doors opened, not the number walked through. If you want the unvarnished picture of how written clears convert into actual NDA joins, read Sainik School to NDA: The Real Numbers.
The AISSEE 2027 exam is tentatively scheduled for 31 January 2027, and results like this week’s are the entire reason the preparation exists. Sainik Schools were built for one job: turning Class 6 entrants into NDA-ready young men and women. A week in which the system produces 143 reported written-stage clears — across geographies, batches and now girls’ institutes too — is proof of concept, not hype.
One practical takeaway for next year’s e-counselling: when you shortlist schools, look at each school’s NDA track record alongside cutoffs and fees. A school that consistently produces SSB-ready cadets is doing something the syllabus alone cannot explain.
Photo: Pexels
How many Sainik School cadets cleared the NDA(II) 2026 written exam?
At least 143, as reported across five schools in the last five days: Kalikiri 50, Ghorakhal 44, Nalanda 23, Mai Bhago AFPI 17 and Punglwa 9. Each figure is a reported tally from the named source, not a UPSC-compiled total.
Which Sainik School had the most NDA written qualifiers this cycle?
Sainik School Kalikiri, with 50 qualifiers — its best-ever NDA result — including three girls from its first-ever batch of female cadets, as reported by The Hindu on 11 October 2026.
Is clearing the NDA written exam the same as joining the NDA?
No. The written stage is the first of three filters. Qualifiers now face the SSB interview and medical tests before the final merit list for the 158th NDA Course and the 120th Indian Naval Academy Course, commencing 1 July 2027.
When was the NDA(II) 2026 written exam held and when was the result declared?
The written exam was held on 13 September 2026, and UPSC declared the result on 9 October 2026, as reported by The Telegraph India.
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