Bangladesh Military Academy

Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA) is the military training institute for the officer cadets of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Bhatiary, near Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the Chittagong District of south-east Bangladesh, about 13 kilometers north of Chittagong. The academy is situated on the slopes of the Sitakunda hill ranges and the shore of the Bay of Bengal.

History
Following the independence of Bangladesh with the break-up of Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Bangladesh Military Academy was established in January 1974 for training the officers of the Army. The Military Academy was opened by the initiative of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The academy was initially raised at Cumilla Cantonment on 29 November 1973 and later relocated to Bhatiari, Chattogram in 1976. The academy was awarded the National Standard in 1979.

The Bangladesh Military Academy provides training to the officers of the Bangladesh Army. From 1983, the officers of the Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Air Force must take three months training from the academy.

The academy chose a verse by national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Chiro Unnata Momo Shir (translation: ever high is my head) as its motto. Regular long courses commenced from 1978. The first batch of officers of Bangladesh Army graduated from the academy on 11 January 1975. It is affiliated with the ARTDOC.



Selection
Entrants must be higher secondary school graduates. They must be at least 160 cm tall, weigh at least 49.8 kg, and be unmarried. Selection is highly competitive. Candidates must undergo a rigorous investigation of their background and educational performance, a complete physical exam, an initial interview, a written test, and an intensive three day examination/interview. The selection process is intended to be non-political. Overwhelmingly, those accepted are disinterested in or disdainful of politics.

The majority of cadets are from middle class or lower middle class families. Eighty percent have rural origins. Most, however, attended well-regarded urban schools or cadet colleges.

Foreign officers regularly attend one-year courses at the academy. In 2019, about ten percent of the graduating class were from abroad, mostly from Saudi Arabia.

Training
BMA provides military and academic training and character building. The academy primarily trains men and women to be commissioned into the Bangladesh Army. In addition, the academy conducts and orientation course for Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) officers, officer cadets and midshipmen of the Bangladesh Air Force and Navy respectively, and Pre-Commission Training for professor/teacher under-officers of Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC). Long Course cadets graduating from this academy fall under Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) and Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) curriculum. The academy has the intention of fostering and inculcating those attributes in an Officer Cadet (OC) which will ensure his continuous and progressive development as a regular officer in the Bangladesh Army, and developing future officers for the Bangladesh Army by training the Officer Cadets in a way that they can make decisions as and when required by the military profession.

Training course
The training courses run at BMA are as follow:


 * Long Course – 3 years.
 * BMA Special Regular Course – 24 weeks.
 * Basic Military Training Course – 24 weeks.
 * Joint Services Course – 10 weeks (Bangladesh Navy cadets and Bangladesh Air Force cadets).
 * Direct Short Service Commission – 49 weeks
 * Potential Platoon Commanders Course – 05 weeks.
 * Drill Instructor Course – 07 weeks.
 * BCS Officers Orientation Course weeks (01 week in BMA) – 05 weeks.
 * Post Commission Academic Training (PCAT) - Final Semester of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) (4–6 months)





Academic training
This training is mainly conducted to prepare the cadets of long courses for qualifying in the Bachelor of Arts (BA)/Bachelor of Science (BSc) (Pass Course) examinations. From 67 BMA Long Course, there will be a common degree. That is Bachelor of Defence Studies (BDS). From 75 BMA Long Course there are 8 subjects to study: International relations, BBA, Economics, Physics, Computer Science, & Engineering, Electrical, Electronics & Communications Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering. The academic training also aimed at developing communication skill both in English and Bangla through oral and written expression, create awareness of current national, regional and international affairs, widen mental horizon and sense of reasoning.



Publications
BMA has two publications namely CHIRO UNNOTO MOMO SHIR (EVER HIGH IS MY HEAD) is BMA magazine and PADAKHKHEP (ONWARD MARCH) a professional journal. Both the publications published once in a year.

Affiliation
The academy provides a three-year academic programme combined with intense military training. It is affiliated with the Bangladesh University of Professionals and Military Institute of Science and Technology that provides 4-year bachelor's degrees. Every cadet has to study Military Science in this institution. They have to learn every thing practically.