History of cadet colleges
The system of cadet college was first introduced in Germany in the era of Bismark. Napoleon Bonaparte introduced this in France. Military and Royal aristocrats would send their children or wards to those cadet colleges for education and a career in the Royal Army. After partition in 1947 the new state of Pakistan, consisting of East and West Pakistan, the system was introduced by the then president of Pakistan Field Marshall Ayub Khan. The first cadet college was built in West Pakistani province in Punjab in the year 1954. Faujdarhat Cadet College in Chittagong district was founded in 1958
There are 12 Cadet Colleges in Bangladesh. Among these, nine for boys and three for girls. Four Cadet Colleges were established before 1971. Other cadet colleges were built after the Liberation War of Bangladesh.No. Name Location Area (acre) Established
| No. | Name | Location | Area(acre) | Established |
| 01 | Faujdarhat Cadet College | Chittagong | 185 | 1958 |
| 02 | Jhenaidah Cadet College | Jhenaidah | 110 | 1963 |
| 03 | Rajshahi Cadet College | Sardah, Rajshahi | 110 | 1965 |
| 04 | Mirzapur Cadet College | Mirzapur, Tangail | 95 | 1965 |
| 05 | Sylhet Cadet College | Sylhet | 1978 | |
| 06 | Rangpur Cadet College | Alamnagar, Rangpur | 37 | 1979 |
| 07 | Barisal Cadet College | Rahmatpur, Barisal | 50 | 1982 |
| 08 | Pabna Cadet College | Pabna | 1982 | |
| 09 | Mymensingh Girls Cadet College | Mymensingh town, Mymensingh | 1983 | |
| 10 | Comilla Cadet College | Moynamoti, Comilla | 57 | 1983 |
| 11 | Joypurhat Girls Cadet College | Joypurhat | 2006 | |
| 12 | Feni Girls Cadet College | Feni | 2006 |
History
The first cadet college in Bangladesh was established in 1958 over an area of 185 acres (0.75 km2) of land at Faujdarhat in the district of Chittagong. The college was put under the management and supervision of the army general commanding officer of the 14th division, although the education ministry provided the funds and was in charge of accreditation. Sir William Maurice Brown (a Lieutenant Colonel of the New Zealand army) was the first Principal of the college and served it in that capacity for 7 years. The idea behind the establishment of cadet colleges was to train the country's youth and instill in them high moral, sound mental capacity, breadth of vision, physical stamina, power of leadership and the capacity to run the rapidly expanding government administrative machinery. The cadet colleges were completely different from all existing types of secondary and higher secondary educational establishments, but soon became famous for their performance in terms of the excellent results of their students in public examinations. Such excellence was attributed mainly to rigorous scrutiny in intakes and the good quality of instruction.
Ex-Cadets' Organization
Cadets passed out from a Cadet College feel deeply for his or her alma mater. From this aspiration, ex-cadets of almost every cadet college have been able to form alumni associations called ex-cadets associations. Some of these are :No. Short name Full name Established Members
| 01 | OFA | Old Faujians' Association |
| 02 | ORCA | Old Rajshahi Cadets' Association |
| 03 | JEXCA | Jhenaidah Ex-Cadets Association |
| 04 | MECA | Mirzapur Ex-Cadets' Association |
| 05 | ROCA | Rangpur Old Cadets' Association |
| 06 | ACOC | Association of Comilla Old Cadets' |
| 07 | AMEC | Association of Mymensingh Ex-Cadets' |
| 08 | BEXCA | Barisal Ex-Cadets' Association |
| 09 | APEC | Association of Pabna Ex-Cadets' |
| 10 | OCAS | Old Cadets' Association of Sylhet |