BHUBANESWAR: With the closure of applications for UPSC (CDS) 2019 examinations on November 26, a surge in enrollments of coaching centres is being observed throughout the country. However, lack of successful candidates of the state remains a cause of concern.
Odisha as compared to other states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has been producing fewer successful civil-services candidates. In the past three years, only 16 candidates have cleared the examinations as opposed to 523 from Uttar Pradesh and 182 from Bihar out of 2762 candidates.
Experts have attributed lack of awareness for the civil services and adequate coaching centres as some of the reasons for the state’s underperformance in these examinations.
“Students are less concerned about civil-services as other courses like engineering, medicals or MBA are much preferred over government exams,” said Sumit Kanungo, a teacher at a private coaching centre for civil services. He also mentioned that the lack of coaching centres across the state and an outdated syllabus in universities are other factors for the state’s poor show.
Explaining the reasons for larger participation of other states in civil service examinations, Prasant Kumar Sahoo, owner and teacher at Apti Plus academy for civil services said, “Odisha has a dearth of government backed coaching centres as compared to other states like UP, Bihar and Delhi.”
“The syllabus of any civil service examination is vast and its preparation demands a well-formulated strategy. Lack of dedication and focus can render a student depressed and consequently poor performances in exams. Coaching centres can thus be useful for a student to prepare for these examinations.”
Although the Higher Education Department had directed setting up career counseling centres and providing free coaching to students in about 10 state-run universities, the directive is yet to see the light of day. Even the coaching centre that was opened at Utkal University was shut down due to poor feedback.
Pratyush Kumar Dash, a civil service aspirant and resident of Bargarh, said, “I wanted to pursue civil service preparations in my own state. However, due to lack of quality training institutes, I had no other choice but to go to the country capital.”
Former IAS officer, Debraj Mohpatra said, “Students from Lucknow, Delhi or Chennai can prepare in their own cities as they have really good coaching centres. However, it’s difficult for a student to prepare from Cuttack or Bhubaneswar as we have poor infrastructure and faculty.”
However, he was not all doom and gloom about the state’s prospect and said that students are now more aware than before, and are even returning back from New Delhi (hub of civil service exam preparations) to study here.
He was also of the opinion that prominent coaching centres are opening their branches in the city sensing the potential demand in the state.
“Students are getting more aware and there has been a shift in mindset. Two years ago our batch strength was very low but now we are getting large number of aspirants. I expect about 40 civil service qualifiers from the state in next two years,” said Prashant Mohanty, manager at VajiRao IAS Academy here.
Aviral Mishra
