NDA syllabus to undergo major change by 2026 for ‘tactical commanders to become techno-commanders’: Army Chief

“We are looking to upgrade human resources en masse. We want tactical commanders to become techno-commanders because they are the decision makers. If the decision maker is alive to the technology, the technical people will find it easier to sail through. As far as our MTech input is concerned, we have increased it by 30 per cent. Similarly, the NDA syllabus is undergoing a major change and probably by year 2026, we will be able to see that on the ground,” said General Dwivedi.

In his initial remarks, General Dwivedi said, “My predecessor (Gen Manoj Pande) was a visionary and he declared the year 2023 as the year of transformation and 2024 as the year of technology absorption. Once I took over, the year of transformation was declared as the decade of transformation commencing from the time General Pande had announced. And the year of technology absorption was extended to 2025 because there is still a lot to be done on that front.”

Earlier, The Indian Express had reported that a major upgrade of the NDA curriculum is in the pipeline to incorporate key subjects, in line with the changing nature of warfare. Officials said the present revamp of the syllabus in pipeline will include strategically crucial subjects like Network Centric Warfare, which involves effective use of information technology and computer networking mechanisms and utilise them to weave all force elements on the battlefield into a network.

Other key additions include Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with their applications in autonomous systems, predictive analytics, image recognition, tactical decision support, simulation and strategic planning. The upgraded syllabus will have detailed modules on cyber, space and information warfare under the domain of asymmetric warfare.

NDA cadets undergo a three-year-long training at India’s premier tri-services institute in Pune, and also undertake academic courses. Since 1973, the NDA cadets have received degrees from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.

Cadets can choose between bachelor’s degrees in BA with History, Political Science, Economics and Geography, BSc with Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and BSc with Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics. The Air Force and Navy cadets can also opt BTech degrees, of which they complete three years at the academy and last year at their respective service academies.

Since its raising, the NDA has undergone major revamps of the curriculum in line with the warfare philosophies of the time. These include the Mahajani Committee in 1969 and the Committee for the Review of the Training of Officers of the three Services (CORTOS) in 1986.

The present syllabus of NDA is the result of periodic reviews by two committees, namely, the Inter-Services Study Group (ISSG) constituted by the Chiefs of Staff Committee in 2004, 2013 and 2017 as as well as the Academic Study Groups (ASG) that were constituted along with each ISSGs.