Tucked between a shopping mall and the magnificent Vidhan Sabha building here is Lal Kothi, loosely translated as red bungalow. Why the place got this name, no one seems to know, but today it is a happening place for aspiring professionals.
The semi-commercial area has a huge cluster of coaching centres for students aspiring to crack various competitive examinations — pre-medical and pre-engineering entrance tests, Railways, police and banking recruitment tests, Rajasthan Administrative Services Examination, Civil Services Examination and so on. These centres claim to provide “coaching with high success rates”.
If Kota is nationally acclaimed for its coaching institutions where students are trained to clear pre-medical and pre-engineering examinations, including those for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology, Jaipur is fast catching up as a centre for coaching for the State Administrative and Central Civil Services examinations. Even big names such as Chanakya IAS Academy and Rau’s Study Centre have expanded their business to the historic Pink City. While many local coaching centres have been around for many years and made a place for themselves, others are struggling to find a foothold in this business with a promising future.
Whatever be the reason for the unrest among Civil Services aspirants over the nature of the examination, coaching centres do good business. The teachers and students may have different opinions about the issues being flagged by the protesting aspirants, but one thing is common to all — there is no slump in the number of aspirants.
“We train students according to the pattern of examination adopted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and try to ensure that as many as possible crack it. Before 2011, we taught the optional subject in preliminary and after that, we switched over to the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), now the bone of contention,” says N.K. Jha, Director of Raos Jaipur Institute.
The prospectus is bilingual because a large number of students come from a rural background and the Hindi medium.
Over at Chanakya IAS Academy, separate batches are run for Hindi- and English-speaking studentsThe courses run for eight to nine months with classes held daily for four hours. Once written tests are cleared, students are prepared for interview at the main centre in New Delhi.
The agitation over CSAT may not have affected the coaching centres, but it is a debating point these days. “Students are curious and do ask pertinent questions about the anger being expressed by aspirants in the national capital these days because a change of examination pattern would affect them,” Jeevan Singh Bisht, acting head of the Chanakya academy, said.
While a majority of the students support the agitation as they believe the examination is tilted towards English-speaking students and those from urban backgrounds, guides at Rau’s Study Circle feel scrapping CSAT is not the answer. It is the schooling and education system which needs a revamp to provide a level playing field.
“It is all in the minds of the students. Students are just afraid of English. It is just a mental barrier. Make English simple and make the translation into Hindi and other regional languages accurate, the problem is solved,” a guide said.
He feels CSAT is a good and scientific method to assess a student. When students with a Hindi or regional language or Humanities background can write competitive examinations for banking and others, what is the hassle when it comes to the Civil Services Examination? It is not only about knowledge but also the ability of an individual to implement that knowledge.
However, his argument does not go down too well with students from a rural background. Nand Kishore Kalan, who cleared the 2013-14 Civil Services Examination, says Hindi-medium students have to read Hindi and English questions to get a clear understanding, which is time-consuming and confusing. In the first two attempts, Nand Kishore opted for Hindi but could not clear the tests; this time he opted for English and made it.
His teacher, Mr. Jha, says a student has to be taught in several languages — local, regional, Hindi and English — so that he or she is fully prepared. Often, students know the meaning of a word but do not know its usage. Good reference tools are not available in Hindi.
Many feel there is a scientific way to test aptitude for any career; however, civil servants deal with problems pertaining to public administration, and their temperament has to be different from that of bankers, business managers and the like. So, typically those tests which assess the ability to be accurate under time pressure in terms of numbers are not appropriate. So care and consideration are called for to test aptitude to be in the civil services.
Case-based questions which test mental make-up, attitude and aptitude, ability to get along with people, take risks and lead a team, and presence of mind can be taken from a variety of situations — urban and rural settings, tribal areas, violence-affected areas, gender and other variables — so as to make it a level playing field for all candidates irrespective of their socio-economic background, some aspiring candidates suggest.
But not all are impressed with the products of these coaching centres. It is easy to figure out for interviewers that a candidate has been tutored to compete. Mainly, it is because coaching centres seem to produce candidates as would through an assembly line.
