A typical day for an Officer Trainee at the Academy
A typical day for an Officer Trainee (OT) at the Academy starts at 6 am with morning exercise drill at the Polo Ground for 60 minutes or a 6-10 km jog. The riding schedule operates simultaneously. The OTs have about an hour to get ready, have breakfast and report for classroom sessions, which commence at 9 am.
There are 5-6 academic sessions of 55 minutes on all working days as per a per-determined session plan. Evening hours from 5 pm till 7:30 pm are slotted for sports and riding. Most cultural performances and programmes are also scheduled in the evening before dinner at 8 pm. The OTs use the post-dinner time to interact with each other and also to review the day’s learning and prepare for the sessions for the next day. Notified holidays and weekends are usually reserved for extra-curricular activities such as community services, adventure sports-rock climbing, para-gliding, river rafting, shorts treks,etc. A course usually demands 14-16 hours of activity per day, which is about 80 hours of academic and other engagements per week.
The importance of physical and mental fitness in leading a life of health, vitality and peace needs no reiteration. It is all the more critical for those who have hectic and often tension-filled career. Officers under training are strongly encouraged to lead a rich, varied and vibrant campus life extending much beyond the confines of lecture halls. The Academy places strong emphasis on outdoor events as part of its dynamic training curriculum. The Happy Valley Sports Complex has been expanded to meet the growing physical training needs of various course participants. Its boasts of a state-of-the art gymnasium and physical fitness center, badminton, lawn tennis courts, football, hockey ground, etc. Services to assist officers under training to improve their proficiency in sports and games. The Academy also has a full-fledged horse-riding infrastructure with instructors drawn from the best in the elite Army unit the President’s Body Guards.
As part of the induction level training curriculum, officer Trainees are sent on treks to the greater Himalayas where they learn to cope with conditions of adversity, bad weather, insufficient accommodation and limited access to food items. Visit and stay in backward villages to understand and appreciate the realities of rural life is integral to induction level programmes. Officer Trainees are encouraged to take up extra-curricular modules and cultivate in-depth interest and proficiency in any hobby of choice. To achieve this, they are encouraged to participate in the activities of various clubs and societies in order to express their creative potential
The various clubs and societies in the Academy include:
