RANCHI: Hundreds of civil services aspirants from remote villages in Jharkhand and neighbouring Bihar are pinning their hopes on a serving police officer who has doubled up as their guide and tutor.
Vikas Chandra Srivastava, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in the Jharkhand Police, has over 250 ‘students’ who interact with him online on a regular basis, and another 1,600 ‘subscribers’ for DSP ki Paathshala, the YouTube channel where he uploads tutorials.
The free online ‘paathshala’ has come as a boon for aspirants from remote villages who otherwise find it impossible to access expensive coaching centres located in the cities.
Srivastava, who is currently posted at the Investigation Training School in Ranchi, said he has been giving free coaching since his posting in Deoghar. He started guiding students through the Zoom App. As the number of aspirants increased during the lockdown, they requested him to give live classes on YouTube and thus ‘DSP ki Paathshala’ took birth.
“DSP ki Paathshala was launched on July 11 and I am taking classes on four days a week for one hour each, both for UPSC and Jharkhand civil services exams. There are eight WhatsApp groups, which are used to make important announcements,” said Srivastava.
In case students have any doubt, they message him in the group and receive reply. Srivastava teaches using a smart board, which was gifted by the management of Ambedkar Library in Deoghar, where he started his role as a tutor.
One of his students Bharat Turi said the officer helped him dare to dream. “For students like us who cannot afford coaching classes but dare to dream of cracking civil services, Vikas Sir is like a divine being,” said Turi, son of a deceased daily wage labourer.
Another aspirant Preety Kumari, who is from Banka district of Bihar but stays with her sister in Deoghar to prepare for civil services, also regularly attends the classes. “If someone is attending them, I don’t think he or she would ever need to go to any other coaching,” said Preeti.