Overview of cadet colleges

Since their launch in 1952, cadet colleges have achieved great popularity in Bangladesh. Currently there are ten cadet colleges in the nation - nine all male and one all female. Cadet colleges are overseen by the country’s armed forces and offer select students an appealing opportunity to grow. A tough nationwide written and medical exam is offered annually to select a small number of students to start at 7th grade and ultimately finish after 12th grade. During these six years of residential schooling, cadets develop strong character, fitness, brainpower and solidarity. Although known for their outstanding performances in national standardized tests, cadet colleges were created primarily to craft the brightest military officers of the country. Therefore, every cadet is expected to later serve in the armed forces or at least seek recruitment.

Cadet colleges are residential and they offer round-the-clock military and academic instructions with three months of vacation a year when cadets are free to go home and join their families and friends. However, cadets live on campus nine months a year and share many of the same emotions and experiences of their teen years. As a result, they make some of their best lifelong friends from within fellow classmates and the college community.

The military budget of the government is the primary source of subsidy for cadet colleges. Students are not assessed a fixed tuition; tuition is based on the income of a cadet's parent or guardian and the rest is subsidized by the government. This unique method allows every otherwise-eligible student to afford the high costs of six residential years.

Cadet colleges are usually built in nature’s calm, away from the chaos of big cities. Here, cadets enjoy unparalleled quiet, fine sports facilities, leadership training, expert faculty and balanced meals. The campuses are thoughtfully isolated from the outside world and therefore cannot be interrupted by any national or political instability.

Each campus admits an “intake” of approximately 50 students per year to begin 7th grade. Thousands of students apply – making this one of the toughest entrance examinations in the country. Applicants must be at least 12 years of age, and pass the two step elimination process – written and medical. At a given time, there are roughly 300 cadets per college. There are 6 intakes leading up to the 12th grade who are assigned to three or four “houses” (random color groups). Cadets graduate upon taking the national Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination at the end of high school. In the event of poor academic results or activities unbecoming, a cadet can be expelled. It is very unusual for an intake to graduate with all of the approx. fifty cadets that started.

Each cadet college currently boasts an ex-cadets’ association to serve and bond cadets that graduate every year to face the rest of their lives. Comilla Cadet College (CCC) is the youngest of the cadet colleges. CCC’s first intake graduated in 1986 and founded the Association of Comilla Old Cadets (ACOC) the same year. ACOC actively holds reunions on or off campus and brings about this web-site to virtually reach its ex-cadets who live all over the world.

History of Comilla Cadet College

Comilla Cadet College (CCC) was founded near the historic Moinamoti Bouddha-bihar in Kotbari, Comilla on July 1, 1983 . It is the youngest of the ten cadet colleges. Like the other five post-1971 liberation war cadet colleges, CCC was also modified from a Residential Model School . The campus was made standard within a mere nine months by a skillful panel of educators and military officials including the founding Principal Lt. Col. Nurul Anwar (now Rtd.), Vice Principal Mr. Ashraf Ali, Mr. Nurul Haque, Taslim Uddin, Akhtar Alam, Humayun Kabir, Abdul Jabbar & Kamal Uddin Mohammad.

The then Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army, Maj. Gen. Abdus Samad P.S.C. officially opened CCC on April 7, 1984 . That very day, CCC greeted 150 cadets in 3 random intakes. On May 18th, fifth intake and on November 22nd, second intake followed. The subsequent arrival of sixth intake later in the year satisfied the enrollment need of three hundred and CCC began its journey in full swing.

Despite its short existence so far, CCC is hailed as one of the greatest institutions of pre-university education in Bangladesh . A military preparatory school, CCC has numerous graduates join the country’s armed forces – some even go on to achieve the highest accolades such as Sword of Honor or Osmani Shornopodok at Bangladeshi military institutes. Academically, few other schools in the region have come close. There have been years when CCC cadets secured more than fifteen top positions in national high school tests. This tradition of excellence continues.

Natural Beauty, Environment and Surroundings of Comilla Cadet College

Comilla is a major city in Eastern Bangladesh and is home to half a million people. Comilla is known for its scenic beauty, rolling hills, tropical woods, sweet delicacies, high literacy and military garrisons. CCC is located in the nearby suburb of Kotbari and is surrounded by high walls and guarded gates. Around the campus are picnic sites, shalbon forests, the only Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), a World War II cemetery, and the historic Mainamati-Lalmai complex.

Mainamati-Lalmai is the center of a Buddhist civilization that flourished from 7th to 12th Century AD. As many as fifty spots have been marked of which some have been dug out from under the soil of a range of low hills known as Mainamati-Lalmai Ridge. The excavations have immense archeological and cultural importance especially in the field of studies of Buddhism. The sites include a museum with a collection of historical artifacts found at the excavation sites. Besides occasional tours, the cadets can see the museum and the historic site from their dorms. On a windy day, the smell of picnic meals and faint music from the shalbon woods would join the vista and slice open the high college walls – a brush of freedom, an early taste of vacation.

Location and size of CCC campus

CCC is located in Kotbari, Comilla about 8 kilometers from the heart of Comilla town. One single paved road connects the campus to town and to places of interest in the vicinity. Most of the college’s land, properties and buildings are protected by concrete walls and patrolled gates.

CCC owns approximately 35 acres (142,000 m²) of land which includes cadets’ residences, staff quarters, academic buildings, mosque, dining hall, storage facilities, a hospital, one fishpond, sports facilities, administrative offices and so on. The campus is very self sufficient in most aspects. However, critically ill cadets are offered advanced care at the nearby Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

Comilla Cadet College Motto

Pronunciation: Gannie alo

Translation: Knowledge is Illumination

Significance: Proper education spreads literacy, minimizes prejudice, broadens mind, and illuminates humanity. Cadets are taught in ways academic, practical and spiritual so they are better equipped to face life.

External links

[1] (http://www.acocweb.com/CCC/ccc.htm)