Kathmandu, April 16
A woman is participating for the first time in Nepal Army’s Command and Staff course which is being run at the Army Command and Staff College, Shivapuri.
She is Major Sulochana Poudel who has got selected for the year-long course under the 25th series.
The number of women officers is 371 out of the total 4062 women in the Nepal Army, Army Spokesman Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari said.
Major Sulochana has become the first woman army officer to take up the reputed course. She had joined the Army as Second Lieutenant in 2061 BS and is currently with the Army Welfare Directorate.
Three hundred officers, including seven women, had competed for the 25 Command and Staff Course this year and of them, 49 got selected.
The course incorporates the Master Level curriculum under the Tribhuvan University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Completion of this course is a prerequisite for getting the promotion to the higher rank in the Army.
As per the Army Act, officers of the rank of Captain and Major can compete for the course.
Of late, the Army Command and Staff College at Shivapuri have emerged as an attraction for the army officers of powerful countries of the world for obtaining higher education.
Ten foreigners from the Armies of Bangladesh, China, India, Lebanon, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and America are enrolled in the 25 Command and Staff Course, Chief Instructor Colonel Ganesh Kumar Shrestha said.
Sixty-two trainees including one each from the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, and the National Investigation Department are participating in the training. And, Major Sulochana is the only woman doing the course.
So far, 922 officers including 63 foreigners have completed the course from the Army Command and Staff College, Shivapuri which was established in 1992.
It is a unique college that brings together army officers of America, China, and India to do the same course from one place.
The course was opened for the foreign army officers since 2011 and it has become the first-choice among the foreign armies.
