RIMC
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RIMC, or the Rashtriya Indian Military College, is a prestigious public school for boys studying between 8th and 12th grade located in Dehra Dun in India. Established in 1922, it has a tradition of training young school boys into strong military leaders. Most of the students studying at the RIMC eventually join the National Defence Academy and eventually the Indian Armed Forces. Alumni from the RIMC, rimcollians as they are known, have gone on to frequently hold the highest ranks in the Army, Navy and Airforce of India (and Pakistan).
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[edit] HISTORY
Established in 1922 by the British in India for training of cadets who would then go to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK, to be commissioned as Indian officers in the British Indian Army. His Royal Highness, Prince Edward VIII the Prince of Wales, inaugurated the school on 13th March 1922 as the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. It was then located on the premises of the erstwhile Imperial Cadet Corps (also called Rajwada Camp), set amidst 138 acres of lush green countryside adjacent to Garhi Village in Dehradun Cantonment.
The purpose of the school then was to provide Indian boys with suitable education and training to ensure a high success rate for the Indians being sent to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as part of the Indianisation program of the officer cadre of the Indian Army. RIMC was a pre Sandhurst institution run along the lines of an English public school. The British believed that for becoming an army officer, a public school education in India was an absolute necessity. The British believed that public school education was particularly necessary for Indian boys whose up bringing made them suitable for the rigors and self-discipline of army life. With this as the vision to lay the foundation for the selected young men to enable them to manage the National security affairs in later life.
After India's independence from the British, the school continues to serve its purpose of nurturing talented young men to be part of the Indian Armed Forces. Post independence, students join the Indian Armed Forces by joining Military Academies in India.
[edit] THE SCHOOL
The school is spread over some 134 acres, with about 250 cadets. Candidates for the school are selected from all over India through RIMC entrance exam [1] held twice a year in each state. Successful candidates in entrace exams have to go through a medical fitness test to be admitted to the school. Every year about 50 students are selected from all over India and are admitted to class VIII.
Students, or cadets as they are called, follow the CBSE syllabus of education over the next 5 years and also take part in a wide range of extracurricular activities which brings out talent, camaraderie and leadership in them. A cadet, during his stay at the RIMC, gets a glimpse of the life of an Indian Army Officer. Popular games that students participate in during their stay at RIMC are Hockey, Football, Cricket, Basketball, Squash, Boxing, Swimming, Cross-country and Gymnastics. Horseriding and rifle shooting are other activities that are very popular among cadets.
After the cadets complete 12th grade, they graduate from RIMC and most of them choose to join the Indian Armed Forces by entering the National Defence Academy at Pune. The students then spend 3 years at the NDA with other selected students from the rest of the country and eventually get commissioned as officers in the Armed Forces.
[edit] ALUMNI
Alumni of the RIMC are known as Rimcollians. Rimcollians have held very high positions in the Armed Forces, many becoming the chiefs of Staff in the Indian Armed Forces. A rare distinction of RIMC is that some of its alumni have also headed the Armed forces of Pakistan ( Rimcollians before the partition of India).
General K.S.Thimayya, General GG Bewoor, General VN Sharma, Air Marshal Asghar Khan (Pakistan Air Force), Air Chief Marshal NC Suri, Air Marshal Nur Khan (Pakistan Air Force), General Padmanabhan are some of the highest ranking officers from RIMC.
Various gallantry awards have been awarded to rimcollians over the years including the Victoria Cross to Lt Gen PS Bhagat, Distinguished Service Order to Gen KS Thimayya, Param Vir Chakra to Major Som Nath Sharma.
Many cadets have earned the Chief of Army Staff Commendation card for extraordinary achievements like mountaineering while at school itself, a rare achievement for a school.
Ritwik Bhattacharya, the reigning national squash champion, is one of the many Rimcollians excelling in his field.
[edit] Links
The official website [2]
Admissions [3]
Alumni[4]
