Our History

The idea to establish a Staff College for Ghana was conceived immediately on the attainment of independence from Great Britain in 1957, when it was realised that it was necessary to train Ghanaian officers to take over from the departing British officers serving with the Ghana Army. The idea was however shelved because of logistics and other constraints at the time. Ghana therefore continued to depend on the vacancies offered at the Staff Colleges of Commonwealth and other allied countries.

In the early 1960s, as the Ghana Armed Forces expanded, the requirement for more trained Staff Officers increased considerably. Consequently, the National War College (NWC) was established in October 1963 to train selected officers for Intermediate Command and Staff Appointments.

In December 1963, the National War College was renamed the National Defence College (NDC). The aim of the College remained unchanged, but the duration of the Course was increased from 10 weeks to 21 weeks. In January 1964, the institution was once again renamed the Junior Defence College (JDC), and in 1973, the Junior Defence College was opened to...