Dholpur Military School


Dholpur Military School is one of the five military schools of India. It is situated in Dholpur in Rajasthan and was established in 1962 by the former Defence Minister late Sh Krishnan Menon to facilitate education of the children of the Defense personnel as well as the civilians.
Military Schools in India were previously known as King George Royal Indian Military College.
The school is housed in Kesarbagh palace, the mansion of the former ruler of the erstwhile Dholpur State. It is away from Dholpur City on the Dholpur-Bari Road. Dholpur is situated between Agra and Gwalior and is away from Delhi.
The school is affiliated to CBSE. It is an English medium boarding school coming under the Ministry Of Defence. Unit tests are held quarterly in addition to half yearly and annual examinations. Students appear for AISSCE and AISSE along with other CBSE affiliated schools in India. Student to staff ratio is about 2.5:1 and student to teaching staff ratio is 10:1 which is far above the national average of India. Staff are recruited by central government from all over India. Students are offered Science subject in 11th and 12th classes. School curriculum includes seven periods of 40 minutes each. Daily three hours of compulsory prep is included in a routine for students to concentrate on studies.
It has three head of institutes - the Principal, the Administrative Officer and MIE. The school educates pupils from class 6th to 12th with the aim to train and prepare the cadets for NDA. Cadets in class 12th are given special responsibility such has school captain and house captain.

CCA

CCA is a part of the school curriculum. Cadets participate in debates, declamations, quizzes, extempore, dance, theatre, poetry recitation in English and Hindi. They also participate in inter house and inter school arts competitions. The school team is a participant in national and state level CCA meets.

Sports and physical education

Cadets undergo compulsory physical training in the morning and play sports in the evening. The school has facilities for football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, cross-country, boxing, table tennis, lawn tennis, squash and badminton. The school is a member of the Indian Public Schools' Conference and participates in state as well as national level sports competitions. The Inter Military Schools Pentagular meet is an annual sports and CCA event where all five military schools compete in several field.
Cadets undergo compulsory physical training in the morning and play sports in the evening. The school has facilities for cricket, hockey, basketball, volleyball, athletics, cross-country, boxing, cycling, hiking and mountaineering. The school is a member of the Indian Public Schools' Conference and participates in state as well as national level sports competitions. In 2007, cadets won six gold, seven silver and two bronze in the CBSE cluster XIII Athletics meet held at Chandigarh. The Inter Military Schools Pentagular meet is an annual sports and CCA event where all five military schools compete in several field.

The school

The school is a category ‘A’ establishment of the Army and is administrated by the Directorate General of Military Training at IHQ of MOD. It is under Army. The Central Governing Council, headed by the Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence is the apex body for the school. The school prepares boys from the age of 10 to 18 years for the All India Secondary School Examination and All India Senior School Certificate Examination, New Delhi and also for Entrance Examination to the National Defence Academy.

History

Dholpur Military School is the youngest military school in India. And chail military school is the oldest military school in India. Along with its sister institute now located in Jhelum, Pakistan, Chail Military School was named as King George Royal Indian Military School after King George V. After the First World War, in February 1922 the foundation stone of the school was laid and regular classes were started in September 1925 at Jalandhar Cant in Punjab. The KGRIMS at Jhelum and KGRIMS at Jalandhar were the first two such institutions to be established in 1925. The KGRIMS Ajmer was established in 1930. The above institutions were re-designated to KGRIMC in 1945 and two more institutions were established namely KGRIMC Belgaum in 1945 and KGRIMC Bangalore in 1946.
The school was founded to provide free education to the sons of JCOs, NCOs and ORs to prepare them for Army examinations including the Indian Special Certificate of Education. The curriculum of the school was based on military requirements with English as a medium of instruction. The strength of the school was 250 and the staff consisted mostly of military personnel.
During the World War II the cadets of these institutions were granted emergency commission and subsequently permission was granted for entry of the Cadets to the Armed Forces looking to the training they received at these institutions. During the Second World War the school was designated as a college. One hundred more cadets were admitted under the expansion scheme. The eligibility norms were relaxed to facilitate enrollment of near relatives of Army personnel and admissions were thrown open to all branches of armed forces. At that time, college was affiliated to the Panjab University for matriculation and intermediate examinations. The institution produced a large number of officers. After partition in 1947, the KGRIMC, Jhelum which was in Pakistan was named as 'Military College Jhelum' and the cadets/ex-students there call themselves 'ALAMGIRIANS'.
After independence, a parliamentary committee headed by the educationist Dr. H N Kunjru recommended reorganization of these schools on Public School lines like the Doon School Dehradun, Lawrence School Sanawar, Mayo College Ajmer, and in 1952, the Ghosh Committee recommended changes in the objectives of these institutions. The cadets were now free to join any profession without the obligation to join the Armed Forces. The King George Royal Indian Military College was renamed as King George’s School and shifted to Nowgong in August 1952 where it was housed in ‘Old Kitchner College buildings’. The school was reorganized in September 1952 and half of the seats of total of 300 were thrown open to the wards of civilians and armed forces officers. In the same year the school was also made a member of the Indian Public Schools' Conference.
In 1952, these institutions at Nowgong, Ajmer, Belgaum and Bangalore were re-designated to King Georges School. In 1962 the fifth school was started at Dholpur in Rajasthan. The King George’s School Nowgong was relocated to its current location in Chail in Himachal Pradesh on 1 July 1960. It was renamed as Chail Military School, Chail. In Jan 1966 these KG schools were re-designated to Military Schools. Cadets are now prepared for senior school certificate examination of the central board of secondary education, New Delhi and it is no longer obligatory for them to join the Defence forces.
In 2007, Chail Military School along with its sister institutes Bangalore Military School, Belgaum Military School, Ajmer Military School and Dholpur Military School were renamed as Rashtriya Military Schools of India.
Cadets of these institutions have risen to the rank of Generals, Air marshals and Admirals, Secretaries to the government of India and to top positions in the police and Paramilitary forces. Many have established industries and reached international level recognition in their fields and also hold high positions in companies. Many cadets are Ministers and Members of Parliament, surgeons and scientists. The cadets from these institutions call themselves Georgians.

Academic campus

The school buildings are located on two adjacent hills, the one on Kesarbagh is the Academic Building, and the hostel and residences are located on the hill some times referred as Residential Block.
The school houses a library. Besides the Academic block the Kesarbagh Fort houses a post office, Police Chowki, swimming pool, golf course, tennis court and craft room.
There are six hostels - Nalanda, Jagan, Shivaji, Udaibhan, Chittor and Ujjain. Along with hostels the new campus has the Principal's residence, cadet's mess, Vivekanand Hall, VIP guest house, guest house, cafeteria, CSD canteen, MI Room, staff residence, Temple, basketball courts, lawn tennis courts, gymnasium, boxing ring, obstacles. Stairs from the new campus lead to play grounds for daily games activities. There are three lakes around the campus - India Lake, Pakistan Lake and Duck Lake.
NCC is a part of cadet activities and there are hobby clubs catering to cadet's interest.
A typical day in a cadet's life starts at 0500 hrs with PT, followed by breakfast, assembly, classes at Kesarbagh Fort till 1300 hrs, then lunch at cadet's mess, noon prep, evening games, wash and change, evening prep, dinner at 2000 hrs and after dinner prep until lights out at 2200 hrs.
Every hostel has two floors, with Junior Dorm, Middle dorm and Box Room on the first floor and Senior dorm in one side and Preparation Room, Recreation Room and warden office on the other. A house is under command of a House Captain. School is commanded by a School Captain, School Adjutant, a CCA Captain and a Sports Captain.
For the Janamasthami festival cadets hunt through the night to collect flowers from campus and decorate their temples throughout the day which are visited by everyone in the evening.
School Annual Day is held in December when a cultural programme is held in honour of the chief guest who distributes prizes for achievement in academics, co-curricular and sport.
The school is affiliated to the CBSE board of India. Unit tests are held quarterly in addition to half yearly and annual examinations. Students appear for AISSCE and AISSE along with other CBSE affiliated schools in India. Student to staff ratio is about 2.5:1 and student to teaching staff ratio is 10:1 which is far above the national average of India. Staff are recruited by central government from all over India. Students are offered Science subject in 11th and 12th classes. School curriculum includes seven periods of 40 minutes each. Daily three hours of compulsory prep is included in a routine for students to concentrate on studies.

Commandants and Principals

Distinguished Alumni

The school has produced numerous Generals, Brigadiers and thousands of Colonels and Lt Colonels along with Governors, Ministers, Civil servants, Actors and Business Tycoons.