Sleeping in NDA class nothing new

The videos ‘Class NDA’,‘NDA class bedroom once again’ and ‘NDA class room= bedroom’ have been uploaded in 2011.

Sleeping in class,it seems,is nothing unusual at NDA,where cadets undergo heavy physical training. There have been calls by experts to make the physical training more scientific and less stressful without losing efficiency.

“Professors are used to cadets sleeping in class. In fact there have been instructions that sleeping charges,punishment for sleeping in class,be dropped,” said an insider wishing anonymity.

Cadets sleeping during lecture was a concern that was sought to be addressed in 2003 by the then NDA commandant who suggested a revision of physical training.

A former commandant told this paper,“The first time I saw cadets sleeping in class,I was shocked. The reasons are stress from stringent physical training (PT) which remains unaltered even as academic curriculum has undergone a change to graduation course and occupies 70 per cent of a cadet’s time. I recommended that graduation programme and military training programme be separated. We need modern views. Unless that happens,a cadet will continue to sleep in class. The problem with officers at NDA is their attitude that ‘We all did it,what’s wrong if he (cadet) does it?’ The thing is,everybody at NDA knows why cadets sleep.”

The larger concern is not sleeping in class but injuries,stress fractures and even in some cases,death. The issue has come up for discussion at several conferences but has yet to be resolved.

In a recent military paper,a retired PTO of the academy stated,“Cadets of courses serial 116-125 suffered a staggering 466 stress fractures from July 2008 to August 2011 or over 12 a month/155 factures a year. cadets are exposed to incessant drill practice; restrictions,extra drills,puttee parades,ragda (toughening up cadets at unearthly hours in the name of squadron spirit to win competitions). There is a punishment in combat dress; a four-hour,25-km trek to Sinhagarh peak at 4,660 feet and back. The problem of physicality can thus be seen in its full,very serious import: What is urgently needed is a scientifically programmed,well-executed and stringently monitored world-class physical-academic mix; not the current tradition-automated can’t-do-anything-about-it situation that gives nightmares to sports medicine specialists.”