All quiet on the Camphor Avenue of the beautiful campus on March 13, 2021, just before the national lockdown.  Photo Courtesy: Col Sanjay Kannoth

New Delhi: A hundred years ago, Rajwara Camp in Dehradun, which then hosted the Imperial Cadets Corp (ICC), to train young princes had to shut down due to the Spanish flu pandemic. The 138-acre campus today is home to Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), which probably is the only boarding school in the country to remain completely functional during the Covid 19 pandemic. 

As the news of the pandemic and the looming lockdown broke last spring, famous schools in the Doon valley shut down post haste. Long lines of cars could be seen parked outside the gates of the famous residential schools as parents jostled to take their children back before the lockdown came into effect.

“However, it was to be different at RIMC which is a functioning military unit in addition to being a residential school,” says Sidharth Mishra, publisher of The Rimcollian, the alumni newsletter of RIMC, which has carried a detailed report on the humungous exercise in its March 2021 edition. The Grand War Council of RIMC comprising the Commandant (Col Ajay Kumar), the Administrative Officer (Lt Col Gaurav Hamal), Assistant Adm Officer (Lt Col Gyan Ranjan Sahu) and the Academic Head (Mr Prashant Kumar Sharma) put their heads together and took call to keep the wheels of RIMC turning without a squeak.

The challenge was to follow the COVID protocols to the T and yet keep life going as close to normal as possible. The challenge which the school team faced were manifold - access control to RIMC, keeping the routine within the campus close to normal within the laid down protocols, being medically and administratively prepared to face the pandemic while also assuaging the fears of the parents about the safety of their wards. 

The staff and faculty residing outside the College premises were asked to stay out.  This put a lot of administrative load on people who were residing inside the campus. The College was run on a skeleton staff, but all tasks were executed with the same efficiency.

Meals in Cadets' Mess were staggered, dished out in the Central Lawn as a buffet and served class wise ensuring social distancing and minimal interaction with the waiters. On the advice of the Resident Medical Officer, the cadets were segregated class-wise in residence temporarily replacing the older house system. This helped limiting the interpersonal interaction to a small group of about 25 in each residential dormitory.

The college hospital, all geared up to take on the pandemic. Photo Courtesy: Col Gaurav S Hamal

The main ward in the College hospital was treated as an isolation facility. Those cadets who needed admission for any other illness were admitted in a small ward that was fumigated regularly and prepared with the highest sanitization. Within the campus also the employees were segregated from the cadets fully. While the rest of the world was confined to their flats and houses during the national lockdown, the team RIMC tried to maintain a modicum of normalcy by allowing cadets and Group C staff to use the vast expansive playgrounds for exercise, all within segregated laid down timings.

To comply with the directives of social distancing, classes were conducted outdoors in wide open spaces in varied venues ranging from the open-air boxing auditorium, the historical Patiala Pavilion, the Olympic size open-air swimming pool and even in open lawns of the Academic Block. To the staff's credit, the syllabus was completed within the laid down timelines and even the exams for the Spring Term 2020 - Terminals and Boards, were conducted efficiently and progress reports made well within time.  

The bigger challenge was to send cadets home for vacations. Parents from nearby states, after arranging for special passes arrived at the gates on the dates given and picked up their wards. The question that loomed large was as to how to send those cadets home who were from far off states as the public transport system was grounded.  The College administration tried getting cadets accommodated on special military trains running towards the north east or South but somehow that could not fructify.

Cadets travelled to their homes as far as Aizwal and Mumbai in buses from Dehradun. Photo Courtesy: Col Gaurav S Hamal

Undeterred a way was found -- parents from far away states came together and organised buses and the administration, after having calculated the loads, distances, routes, alternate routes and probable halts flagged off those buses (having liberally doused their insides in copious amounts of disinfectant) towards their intended destinations - some as far as Mumbai and Aizawl.

Carefully calculated provisions of water and rations was made available for each bus so that the travelling cadets do not have to purchase them en-route. Military personnel posted at RIMC were placed on each bus so that they buses were not unduly stopped or harassed while crossing state borders. Liaison was carried out with state officials through which these buses had to pass and also with the parents and state officials to which these buses were headed so that the quarantine protocols could be complied with. The story did not end there. 

Next preparations had to be made to receive the cadets back for the next semester. Soon it was 15 July 2020 and time for the cadets to join back. Dormitories were earmarked for isolation and cadets who joined back were segregated in batches of five and isolated in these dorms. Cadets segregated in these were provided with buckets and individual toiletry items with single toilets and bathrooms earmarked for a single individual. These facilities were also inspected by the local Military Hospital authorities to contain an outbreak if one should occur.

Cadets arriving back at the campus. Photo Courtesy: Col Gaurav S Hamal

After the mandatory Quarantine period these cadets joined the normal routine. Cadets started joining back in small batches and their arrival scheduled to quarantine them in small batches. Owing to the lockdown many cadets could not join back in time for Autumn Term 2020 which commenced from 15 July 2020. For those delayed in arrival at the campus were reached online utilising the available Smart Classes infrastructure. 

“When all's said and done, the COVID-19 pandemic was, and continues to be a learning experience for us here at the College,” said college head Col Ajay Kumar as a parting note.

(First Published in www.dailypioneer.com)