In our country, India, after completing the 12th class, the young minds get three different entries to join armed forces as an officer. Among the three NDA and TES without any doubts do have high competition among each other. With this competition, one of the significant questions that inevitably come in students’ minds is which one is best for them. Do talking about both the entries; they have their specialty and are different in their own ways.
Though the working of both the NDA and TES entries is different, their primary motto is to build gentlemen and leaders for the country ready every time to give their everything to their nation. If we want to tell the best among these, opinions may vary from person to person. Here I will be discussing some points regarding both of them so that you could decide best for yourself.
1. The candidates opting for NDA (National Defence Academy) get first 3-year training at NDA, Khadakwasla, Pune, and then one-year training at their respective service academies AFA/IMA/INA. On the other hand, if you will join through TES, then you will be trained for one year at OTA Gaya and later three years of Pre-Commission Training at your respective centres based on your branch.
2. Though for both NDA and TES students passed out from 12th have to appear, but the difference is that in NDA, students from all streams can appear, but in TES, the student’s background required is Maths, Physics, and Chemistry.
3. If you want to appear for the NDA SSB, then a candidate needs to clear UPSC written exam, but for the TES SSB, the interview comes up based on your 12th-grade percentage.
4. After three years of study, if someone is going through NDA entry, he will be provided with a Baccalaureate degree (a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science). Cadets have a choice of two streams of study. Whereas in TES, after the successful completion of training, candidates are awarded the Engineering Degree. Candidates awarded the Engineering degree are awarded Permanent Commission in Army Engineering Core.
5. One trend which is shown by these entries is that a candidate from NDA entry has a higher and faster chance of promotions as compared to TES entry. It is evident from the fact that NDA has produced 27 service Chiefs of Staff to date. Not only this, but The current Chiefs of Staff of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force are also all NDA alumni from the same course.
6. If we would talk about the salary of cadets, then definitely TES entry Cadets get more pay allowances as compared to NDA entry. TES Cadets gets an extra technical allowance for them.
7. Specific Candidates have a dream to join the Fighting arms in the Armed Forces. If you are one among them, you need to go through NDA entry as there only you will be able to join the fighting arms like Infantry, Artillery, Para, Army Aviation, etc. The TES Entry Cadets hardly gets a chance to join the fighting arm. They act as support to the fighting arms.
8. In OTA Gaya, platoon level tactics are taught in the two terms( 1 year ) of training, whereas in NDA, section level tactics will be taught that too after 2 1/2 years of training. So a second term equivalent of TES has completed IMA level training.
So, these are some of the differences between the two entries. I hope you have decided the best one for you until now, but I will suggest you go for both the entries. Here, both the academies are equally prestigious and branches if the same tree. Their main aim is common in one way or another, so never miss this golden opportunity whenever you get it.
