6 women Army officers qualify for prestigious Defence Services Staff College
By Anish Kumar | First Published Nov 17, 2022, 7:46 PM ISTThese selected officers will undergo a one-year course at Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College, where they have to pass all six papers, including tactics, law and military history.
In a first, six women officers of the Indian Army have qualified for the prestigious Defence Services Staff College. A total of 15 women officers had competed along with about 1500 male officers for 260 seats.
These selected officers will undergo a one-year course at Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College, where they must pass all six papers, including tactics, law and military history.
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"The fight for gender justice initiated by the women officers serving in the armed forces has finally yielded results by allowing first of its kind evaluation of women officers for entry into the prestigious defence service staff college," Advocate at Supreme Court Chitrangda, who fought for the women officers, told Asianet News English.
"This not only paves the way for higher representation of women in our country's armed forces but is also significant in changing the global outlook of women in combat/military roles," she added.
The Staff College Course
It is pertinent to mention here that the course is conducted by the Indian Army, in which officers are selected based on competition. It is, in fact, the only course where the officers have to compete.
In other courses like junior command course, senior command course, higher command, higher defence management and National Defence College, the officers are selected based on nominations.
Why is the DSSC course important?
The successful completion of the DSSC course paves the way for the officers for critical staff appointments, promotion into the higher formations and also overseas deployment.
Every year, the course commences in the month of June and concludes in May next year. Besides Indian officers, 50 officers from friendly foreign countries, including women, also attended the course.
It is for the first time that the Indian Army women officers will be attending the course. The development comes over two years after the Supreme Court granted a permanent commission for the women short service commission officers.
Permanent Commission for Women Officers
Prior to the apex court's verdict, the women officers had permanent commissions only in branches of medical, legal and education. There was no requirement to have a staff college course.
After allowing the permanent commission to women officers in 2020, they can now be deployed in the branches of Army Air Defence, signals, engineers, army aviation, electronics and mechanical engineers, army service corps, army ordnance corps, and intelligence.
The DSSC was established in 1905 DSSC and has been affiliated with the University of Madras for an M.Sc degree in Defence and Strategic Studies and has been recognized as a research centre for MPhil and PhD degrees since 1990.
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