The institute was formed on 19 March 1973 at Comilla Cantonment. It was originally called School of Infantry. In 1974 the a tactical wing was added and it was moved to Jessore Cantonment and renamed School of Infantry and Tactics. In the same year it was renamed COMBAS and divided into separate schools for armour, artillery, engineers, and infantry. On August 1977 the institute was renamed back to School of Infantry and Tactics as it became focused again on infantry training and other branches of the army developed their own training institutes. The institute was shifted in Jalalabad Cantonment, Sylhet division, in 1979. The Special Warfare School was merged with the institution as Special Warfare Wing in 1982 and started various kinds of training under It's command.