Army gets a new officers training academy in Gaya

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 fulfill 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.