The Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun is the institution which groooms an enterprising neighbourhood boy into an officer and teaches him to lead his men during war and peace.

Indian Military Academy became functional from 1st October 1932 with batch of 40 Gentlemen Cadets. Brigadier L.P. Collins was its first commandant.

The first batch of 40 Gentlemen Cadets passed out of IMA in December 1934. They included SHFJ Manekshaw, Mohd Musa and Smith Dun who rose to become Field Marshals or Generals and later’ the Chiefs of the Indian, Pakistani and Burmese armies respectively.

For the purpose of Indian Military Academy, the government acquired the estate of erstwhile Railway College at Dehradun which had the appropriate buildings and a large campus, enough to meet the upcoming academy's needs. It is the place where the youngsters are moulded into the steely resolved officers of Indian Army.

Trained to excel in every sphere of life, these officers are entrusted with such challenging responsibility like that of safeguarding the sovereignty of the country. It can be said that not only is IMA a pride for Dehradun or Uttarakhand but is also a matter of immense pride for entire nation.

The beautiful main building of IMA is called Chetwode Building. It is named after Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode, who was at the time of IMA's inception, the Commander-in-Chief of India and had also inaugurated the new academy.

Indian Military Academy is located at 8 Km on Dehradun-Chakrata road. It is adjacent to Forest Research Institute, another premier institute of the country. The majestic main building of the Indian Military Academy is a sight to behold. The well maintained campus of IMA with nicely done up gardens and training fields reek of sheer class and high standards of discipline that the institute upholds.