If you are a civil services aspirant and wondering how to crack the UPSC exams and the interview, here is a free online platform, where serving civil servants of different cadres are mentoring hundreds of students through Telegram messenger groups to help achieve their goal.
IT engineer Sharanya Ari, who secured the seventh rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination in India (and also the Tamil Nadu topper), is a product of this virtual medium. Having cleared the test in the fourth attempt, Sharanya is now considering joining these officials to share her expertise with the other aspirants.
Called ‘CivilServicesExam.guru’, it is a voluntary pro-bono initiative that was started by a few civil servants of India three years ago.
Today, the number has grown to 60 civil servants, including IAS, IPS and IRS officers from across the country.
Sharanya, an IAS aspirant said she learnt about it from a Facebook post of one of the founders P Manivannan, a native of Tamil Nadu and a senior IAS officer serving as MD of the Karnataka Water Supply and Drainage Board in Bengaluru.
How is mentoring done?
Mentoring is done online through classes, assignments and counselling. First, there are regular virtual classes held twice a day. They are conducted in the Telegram super group, with all 300 students being in the same virtual class room. These classes are conducted on all days except Sundays, however,on Sundays too, at times, there are special classes.