The Internet today is choc-a-bloc with education apps and platforms attempting to cater to a wide range of students appearing for all sorts of examinations. The competition appears to be severe in this market and so, on the business side of things, each app or website tries its best to secure a decent market share and develop a revenue model that is both sustainable and customer-friendly. Curiously, against the din of this commotion is a small, yet significant space like theupsconline.com where words like revenue model and market share are the last priorities.
Founded by Somashekar Hulmani, this website, designed to be the go-to space for those writing the civil service exams, is accessible to all for free. And Somashekar, who set it up just more than a month ago, insists that he would like to keep the website free in the future as well. The reason for this, he says, is his motivation to set up such a platform in the first place. "I'm a civil service aspirant myself. I've gone up till the interview round but unfortunately did not make it after that. During my preparation for the exams, I felt that there is a need for a space that civil service aspirants can turn to for guidance with ease. There are plenty of coaching centres yes, but not everyone finds them accessible-- either because of the fee some of them charge or because many villages and towns are cut off from these centres,” he explains.
Moreover, he explains, if you want to get your answers/answersheets evaluated, often, one finds it difficult to find an expert who will do it immediately. The cost too is quite high for the same, he says. “This is why I thought there should be a platform where students preparing for the exam can log on, post their questions and get answers in real time."
The inspiration for the platform, Somashekar says, also came from his wife who is currently preparing for the UPSC exams. "She would ask questions during her preparation and we would both try to figure out the answers. I realised that there would be many others like us who would like to be a part of a larger peer group and get their doubts clarified in an easy manner," he adds.
So, with the support of his wife, his friend Tejas Jain who designed the site and a few more friends, some of whom are already civil servants, Somashekhar set up theupsconline.com .
The website which has a pretty basic template is primarily dedicated to resolving doubts. "We currently have an expert team of 7-8 people who answer questions that are posted on the site. The problem often is not what the answer itself is, but how to write that answer. So, it helps that there are people who have successfully attempted the exam and are telling others how to do it," he explains.
There is a separate section called ‘ASK A QUESTION’ for this. Then there is a compilation of all the recent discussions on the site under the ‘ALL ACTIVITY’ button. Apart from this, there is another section for a group chat and even links to study materials.
“A civil service aspirant has a number of questions at every stage: whether he or she requires coaching, how does one undertake self-study, how to draw up a timetable and so on. We have received all sorts of queries from basic logistical planning to higher conceptual ones,” says Somashekhar.
“There is another aspect that makes the UPSC exam stand out,” he continues. “The preparation is better if you study together in a group. The Internet has its own way of making this happen by reducing boundaries and distance between cities and between experts and students,” explains Somashekhar.
But has he experienced any compulsions to charge a fee?
“I cannot say I haven’t thought about it. The website is pretty simple also because the resources at our disposal are limited. We set aside a part of our salary and try our best to keep it running. We are open to getting more experts on board to answer and compile responses; the only criterion is that they should have attempted the Mains at least once. We even conducted a poll on the site on whether we should introduce a fee for our services. But I personally would like to keep it free because there is a need for an accessible platform like this for the UPSC exam whose aspirants come from a variety of backgrounds.”
