Pioneer in Building Leaders

by Aminul Islam, 13 July 2008, The Daily Star

In 1983, the Mymensingh Girls Cadet College started its operations as the first Cadet College in Bangladesh for women. Today, 24 years after its inception, the college is being recognized as one of the best educational institutions in the country in all respects including some of the best performances in SSC and HSC examinations every year.

The district of Mymensingh is famous for many creative works from the past. Mahua, Malua, Chandrabati, Kajal Rekha, famous palas of Mymensingh Geetika have established Mymensingh as the birthplace of many source of our folklore. The district is also rich in agricultural production from the middle age. The economic solvency made the people of this region attracted towards cultural activities. The river Old Brahmaputra that flows through the district provides as a great source of water for cultivation throughout the region.

Due to the central location of Mymensingh district, many reputed educational institutions like Bangladesh Agricultural University, Ananda Mohan College, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh Girls' Cadet College and Mymensingh Zila School were established here to satisfy peoples' need for education. Mymensingh Girls' Cadet College regularly produces female talents who are working at home and abroad following their commitments for the nation.

The Model Schools run by the then East Pakistan Government were later transformed as cadet colleges. The school Mymensingh Residential Model School for Girls located at the heart of the town was transformed as Mymensingh Girls Cadet College in 1982 on 23.95 acres of land.

The college started functioning on June 1, 1984 with the motto Rabbi Zidhni Elma (Oh lord, enhance my knowledge).

The college is now run by the Cadet College Council (Ministry of Defence) and Governing Bodies of Cadet Colleges.

Prof. Karim Uddin Ahmed (1982-87) was appointed as the first principal of the college. The other principals of the college who served were Prof. Syed Salim Ullah (1987-91), Prof. Ashraf Ali (1991-94), Prof. David Ashim Kumar Dewari (1995-96), Fazlul Kader (1996-98), Mizanur Rahman (1998-2004), Khademul Haque (2005-07) Ahmad Hasan (2008) and the present principal of the college Md. Fazlul Karim who took the post in 2008.

The college was established with a view to render a total education fit for both mental and physical development. The motives of the college were to provide a sound liberal public school education, to provide elementary military training to cadets, to provide training for growing leadership traits, to provide and promote Arts and Science among cadets and to act as a feeder institution of the Armed Forces.

Every year 50 students are admitted at class seven according to their merit and it is the main criteria of admission. Thousands of girls across the country vie for these seats but only 50 of them are admitted, according to sources. Now the number of cadets at the college is around 300 and there is a staff of 31 teachers. They all have residential facilities in a very congenial atmosphere.

The totally residential college has three dormitories for the cadets namely Shanti House, Sadachar House and Satya House. Every house has its own colour and a slogan; Shanti House (Red, Know Thyself), Sadachar House (Blue, Life of Action) and Satya House (Green, Truth is Beauty).

The college has large play grounds, ponds, a swimming pool, health centre, computer and language labs, Internet facility and a huge library enriched with over 1800 books. In the computer lab, the cadets can browse Internet to communicate with the outside world for the latest knowledge. The language lab serves as a facility to learn English correctly.

The cadets can play different indoor and outdoor games at the college campus. Lawn tennis, table tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton, chess and carom are examples of some of the sports from which they can choose. The cadets have to maintain a very tight schedule daily to ensure their all out developments.

The performance of the cadets at different stage competitions is also very praiseworthy. The stage competitions include poetry recitation, debate competition, dramatic dialogue (eloquence), impromptu speech, quiz, dance and music competition. The college became champion in 'Inter-Parliament Debate Competition' run by BTV in 2007. In 'Inter-Cadet College Literary Meet and Music Competition', the institution has been performing superbly every year.

The result of the college has made it a centre of excellence. The performance in SSC result is quite astonishing. All fifty candidates who sat for the SSC examinations this year from Science group obtained GPA-5. In 2007, 52 students sat for SSC examinations and of them 44 got GPA-5, including four from Humanities Group. The HSC result is also very satisfactory. A total of 54 students got GPA-5 out of 59 examinees last year. In addition to that, performance of the college in different extra curricular activities has proved the inner talents of the cadets.