Faujdarhat Cadet College was the first
cadet college to be established by
Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan in erstwhile
East Pakistan facing the
Bay of Bengal. The government spent 40 lakh taka behind the project and it was opened on 28 April 1958 by Brigadier General Qurban Ali. The classes started with 60 students in the seventh and eighth grade. Two sons of the then Chief Minister of East Pakistan,
Ataur Rahman Khan were part of the inaugural cohort of the school. The school was known as East Pakistan Cadet College until 1965, when three new cadet colleges were established. The school boasts an area of 185 acres making it the largest high school in Bangladesh in terms of area. The school was designed by the most prominent artist of
Bangladesh,
Joynul Abedin. A former cadet of Faujdarhat Cadet College,
Lieutenant Md. Anwar Hossain, Bir Uttam, 7th batch, died in the
Bangladesh War of Independence. After
independence in 1971,
Tofail Ahmed attempted to introduce
Awami League's student politics in the school. As he convened a meeting to discuss the prospects with students, senior students of the school boycotted it. The consequences that followed were the enactment of a new policy to convert the four existing cadet colleges to government residential colleges. Cadets from all colleges led by Faujdarhat started "Keep Cadet College Campaign". They met with the then chairman of the cadet college governing body, Brigadier
Ziaur Rahman who arranged a meeting for them with
M. A. G. Osmani who was then the part of
Sheikh Mujib's cabinet. Osmani talked with Prime Minister Sheikh Mujib and convinced him to repeal the new policy. From 2003, the cadet colleges in Bangladesh were converted to the English version of the National Curriculum. ==Academic system==