Nestled in the verdant splendour of a vast campus of 138 acres is Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun. Exquisitely conceived and brilliantly programmed, the college strives to make a man of every boy fortunate enough to enter its portals.
RIMC is a public school like none else in this subcontinent. The entire curriculum is geared to mould every cadet into future leaders. Verily the Prince of Wales in his inaugural address had said "it is the first few blows on the anvil of life that gives the human weapon the set and temper, which carries it through life's battles".
The Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (RIMC), today's Rashtriya Indian Military College, was formally inaugurated on 13th March 1922 by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII. The college was set-up following the National Demand for the Indianisation of the officer cadre of the armed forces. It was located on the premises of the erstwhile Imperial Cadet Corps, set amidst 150 acres (now 138 acres) of lush green countryside adjacent to Garhi Village in Dehra Dun. The original aim of the institution was to provide Indian boys with suitable education and training to ensure their successful admission to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst as part of the Indianisation programme of the officer cadre.
After Independence, the RIMC started sending its cadets to the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla. Over 80 per cent RIMC cadets join the NDA to pursue a career in the profession of arms. Over 2,000 old boys of the RIMC have officered the Army, Navy and the Air Force. The school enjoys the unique reputation of producing eight service chiefs - five in India and three in Pakistan.
Nowhere in the world could a school claim to have produced over 300 officers of the ranks of Brigadiers and above, and their equivalent in the Navy and Air Force, apart from a host of senior civil servants, ambassadors, executives and captains of industry. There also is an increasing tribe of IT professionals among the old boys.
RIMC has also contributed impressively to Pakistan producing three of their service chiefs, a Foreign Minister, an Interior Minister and a Foreign Secretary apart from an impressive gallery of successful military leaders, career diplomats, civil servants and entrepreneurs. The alumnus, Rimcollians as they are called, have also been in the Indian National Army of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. One can safely presume that no other school would have contributed so greatly towards a Nation, from amongst so few. A batch at the RIMC never exceeds 25 cadets, keeping the number of students in the college to as low as, 250 cadets.
The RIMC is a public school with no rival. Its 138-acre campus in the beautiful cantonment provides all the facilities of education, games, hobbies and extra curricular activities that one could aspire for. The school is funded directly from the Ministry of Defence as a Category A Establishment. The five year plan of RIMC at the most impressionable age between 13 to 17 moulds an individual through all round development into future leaders and truly lives up to the unofficial title of the school, which is "Cradle of Bravery". http://www.rimc.org
