The National Cadet Corps (NCC) was a college and school-based programme for providing military-style training to students in Pakistan, under the auspices of the Pakistan Army. It was a component of the National Guard (a reserve force of the Pakistan Army), and was similar to the British Officers' Training Corps and Army Cadet Force.
| National Cadet Corps | |
|---|---|
| Founded | c. 1948[citation needed] |
| Disbanded | 2002[1] |
| Country |  Pakistan |
| Type | Paramilitary Youth organisation |
| Part of | National Guard |
History edit
The Government of Pakistan formed a committee to prepare the groundwork for establishing a National Cadet Corps in 1947.[2] The government confirmed an intention to raise the Corps in September 1950.[3] The aim was to organise college battalions composed of students, with college staff holding officer positions.[3] Initially it operated only in West Pakistan but by 1952 it was being considered for expansion to East Pakistan, and had formed junior and senior sections, although a women’s section was not formed.[4]
By 1960 the intention was for the Corps to have a strength of 20,000 members.[5] A 1960 commission on education, set up by the government, recommended creating an Army-controlled directorate to organise the Corps more effectively.[6] It also recommended separate sections men’s and women’s sections for each of the three military services.[7] Although the 1962 East Pakistan Annual indicated that funding had been made available for a Corps there,[8] it is unclear whether the proposed expansion to East Pakistan was implemented because a national budget for 1964 referred to the "West Pakistan National Cadet Corps Scheme".[9]
It was officially merged into the National Guard when that force was expanded in 1972 in response to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent country of Bangladesh in 1971.[10] The recruitment criteria in 1973 were for male college students and staff in good health, who would be subject to military law while they were part of the Corps.[11] The training included annual military-style camps and one of the benefits of successfully completing the training was preferential treatment for government jobs.[11] By 1977 the Corps was operational in most degree colleges in the country.[12]
The Corps was disbanded in 2002 by President Pervez Musharraf, although the government was reportedly considering restarting it in the aftermath of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.[13] There were calls for the Corps to be restored at a federal level in 2015,[1] and at provincial level in 2019.[14]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Abbasi, Kashif (12 March 2015). "Govt looking to reintroduce civil defence courses at college-level". Dawn.
- ^ Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (1947). Debates. Vol. 1. Government of Pakistan Press. p. 174. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ a b Pakistan Affairs. Vol. IV. Information Division, Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, D.C. 29 September 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ The Constituent Assembly (Legislature) of Pakistan Debates. Vol. I. Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. 1952. p. 56. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ News from Hsinhua News Agency. Hsinhua News Agency. 1960. p. 128. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Pakistan Quarterly. Vol. 10. Pakistan Publications. 1960. p. 44. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Commission on National Education (1962). Government Resolution on the Report of the Commission on National Education. Government of Pakistan Press. p. 21. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ East Pakistan Annual. Vol. 2. 1962. p. 61. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Details of Demands for Grants and Charged Expenditure. Superintendent, Government Print. 1964. p. 46. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ National Guards program is lauched to reduce dependence on Army. Vol. XXVI. Washington. 16 January 1973. p. 94.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b "National Guards Act, 1973. The Gazette of Pakistan" (PDF). Senate of Pakistan. 13 August 1973. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Bureau of Educational Planning and Management (1977). Development of Education in Pakistan. Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan. p. 20. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Ali Usman (20 December 2014). "Terrorism threat: Govt mulls restarting NCC, civil defence training". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "PTI lawmaker seeks revival of NCC programme in colleges". The News International. 18 September 2019.