Gaya: The country`s second academy for
training military officers for short-service commission was
inaugurated on Monday in Bihar`s Gaya district as part of efforts
to meet the shortage of over 12,000 officers.
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Army Training
Command, Lt Gen K Surendra Nath, hoisted the flag to
inaugurate the academy, the second after the one at Chennai,
in the presence of senior military officers and other
dignitaries.
The academy would mould young dynamic minds into
capable future military leaders and fulfil a long felt need of
the Indian Army to train and induct more officers into its
ranks, Nath said in his address.
It will start with training 135 officers and would
reach its capacity of over 700 Short Service Commission (SSC)
officers in the next two years, they said.
The army is facing a shortage of 12,349 officers
against its sanctioned strength of around 46,500. It is also
looking to increase the number of officers to meet the new
security requirements.
The trainees will be provided basic military training
attuned with the advancements in the latest technology to
enable them to serve as professionally skilled leaders of a
modern army, a press release said.
A team of well qualified instructors and staff
specially chosen from the Indian Army will train the first
batch of gentlemen cadets.
To achieve and maintain paramount standards of
physical and the mental health of the trainees, various
training and sports facilities have been made available in the
Academy.
The academy is equipped with numerous training
facilities for weapons training, drill, physical training,
swimming, equestrian sports and adventure and hobby clubs for
the development of gentlemen cadets, it said.
Training in soft skills like verbal and non-verbal
communication, public speaking, interpersonal relationship,
leadership, emotional intelligence, team building were an
integrated part of the curriculum at the academy, it said.
The Academy has been raised under Lt Gen Vijai Sharma,
a very seasoned and highly competent officer of the Corps of
Engineers with vast experience of 36 years of military service
in a variety of appointments.
Prior to taking over as the first Commandant of the
Academy Sharma served at Army Headquarters, Delhi.
PTI
