NDA Set To Train Boy And Girl Cadets In ‘Absolute Gender Neutral’ Mode. Baby Steps Marching Toward Gender Equality
There is no denying that the government and other organisations are taking multiple steps to ensure a gender-neutral society. In fact, adding to the list of organisations that are making changes for it, is the National Defence Academy (NDA). Yep, the NDA recently announced that both – boy and girl – cadets will be trained together and the majority of their training would be gender-neutral. This decision was made while keeping in mind their employability wherein there will be women officers who will not only be in charge of troops of men but will also command them.
On Tuesday, the National Defence Academy (NDA) announced that the majority of military training of boy and girl cadets will be conducted together and that they are all prepped up for conducting an absolute gender-neutral training for the first batch of girl cadets in June 2022.
Also Read: Kerala School Drops ‘Sir’ And ‘Madam’ Greetings For Teachers After Adopting Gender-Neutral Uniforms For Students
The NDA in a press release said that an absolute gender-neutral training of boy and girl cadets is extremely crucial as there will be times when a woman is an officer and in command of troops of men. The first batch of girl cadets will join in June 2022 and will undergo training for the next 3 years.
In fact, such gender-neutral training methodologies already exist in many other pre-commissioning training academies – Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai, Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala, and the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Hyderabad.
The press release also stated, “Akin to their male counterparts, girls of the age group 16½ to 19 years will undergo three years of military training after successfully clearing the UPSC NDA written exam, Services Selection Board (SSB) interviews and medicals. A total of 19 vacancies namely, 10 for the army, six for the air force, and three for the navy have been allotted by the respective service HQs for the first batch of girls at NDA.” These cadets will join their respective services academies after the post-training and passing out parade.
Also Read: SC Orders Govt To Allow Women For November NDA Exam, Says Gender Equality Can’t Be Postponed
As per reports, the NDA further stated that they have made bare minimum changes to the curriculum and will conduct the training in academics, drill, outdoor training, etc. in a gender-neutral manner. Having said that, the press release added, “owing to physiological differences between male and female cadets, the aspect of physical training may entail certain changes in the training of girl cadets.”
Well, I don’t know about you but I’m happy with this press release. Now even young girls of our country cannot only join the academy but also train there without any biases.
