The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Niche coaching options aid civil service test performance

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Sunday, May 18, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Niche coaching options aid civil service test performance

Shyam Ranganathan

Tami literature, a popular subject among candidates, is a winning factor

— Photo: M. Vedhan

WELL DONE: Saidai S. Duraisamy, founder-director, Manidha Neyam Trust, interacts with IAS toppers in Chennai on Saturday. Ma. Vaavoosi, course director, is also in the picture.

CHENNAI: Tamil literature is a popular option among candidates taking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations, and it often proves to be a winning factor, teachers at civil services training centres say.

There is a perception that the marking system is favourable to them. The availability of dependable coaching facilities in Chennai and the fact that Tamil medium students find it a relatively advantageous choice add to its popularity. Of the 20 successful candidates from Ganesh’s IAS Academy, a coaching centre here, nine had taken Tamil literature for these reasons, says Ganesa Subramaniam, its director.

While specialised coaching centres are not a new phenomenon, IAS coaching centres are increasingly concentrating on their core strengths, without trying to offer coaching for all subjects. This makes certain subjects and coaching centres popular, as students need to take only two optional subjects besides their general studies paper in the main examination. Mr. Subramaniam’s centre, for example, offers coaching only for Tamil literature, public administration and geography.

This places pressure on students who are strong in certain subjects, but do not find adequate coaching for their options at the same place. This has resulted in students having to go to multiple coaching centres, spending substantial sums of money. To relieve this pressure, Mr. Saidai S. Duraisamy, founder-director of the Manidha Naeyam Trust, says he has started a free IAS and IPS coaching centre. The centre offers quality education in certain subjects for free. Free boarding and lodging is available for all students. It also sponsors coaching elsewhere for students in subjects it does not teach.

“I want to change the mentality that free-of-cost means poor quality,” Mr. Duraisamy says. The centre, in its first year, has 12 students in the winners’ list. He feels that this shows his merit-based approach works. The highest ranker from the centre, Sibi Chakravarthi, 107th on the all-India list, asserts: “The screening exam is all that matters. They identify the good students from all over the State and provide for all their needs for the next year or more while we concentrate on studies. It would otherwise be nearly impossible for someone like me who comes from a small village [Ezhumathur near Erode].”

The State government has its own free coaching institute at Anna Nagar—the All India Civil Services Coaching Centre. The centre is meant for candidates from the weaker sections and provides coaching and hostel facilities to students selected after a screening test. The centre has performed well, with 31 candidates, including 10 women, getting through this year.

Principal Usha Kalyani is proud of the fact that the centre has helped Jayaganesh, who worked as a waiter while he studied for his examinations, score the 156th rank.

These free centres are a small part of the coaching centre circuit that has developed all over India for the UPSC examinations.

Ravindran, director of Vajiram and Ravi Institute for IAS Examination in New Delhi, says that without specialised coaching it would be difficult for aspirants to crack the difficult examinations. This has created a boom in coaching centres. Even if many of these centres are largely unsuccessful, his own centre has succeeded in producing the all-India top-ranker for nine consecutive years, he says.

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