VISAKHAPATNAM: The state government will establish six Centres of Excellence (CoEs) for SC, ST and BC students, with a focus on Intermediate education and entrance examinations such as IIT, NIT and NEET, Tribal Welfare Department Secretary M.M. Nayak said on Monday.
Nayak said one of the CoEs has been established at the boys’ residential building in Marikavalasa, Visakhapatnam, as the city is an educational hub.
Physics Wala was selected through a bidding process to provide specialised coaching.
The Marikavalasa CoE will accommodate 600 students, with 300 seats each for MPC and BiPC streams.
Each stream will have 150 seats for first-year and 150 for second-year students. Students were selected on the basis of their Class 10 marks under the supervision of the Gurukulam Secretary.
The programme will follow a co-education model and include online examinations.
The six CoEs include three for SC students at Tadikonda, Meghadrigadda and Kota, one for ST students at Marikavalasa and two for BC students.
Nayak said the decision to focus the CoEs on Intermediate students was taken as the existing model had not produced the expected results.
The new programme will provide specialised coaching to help students perform better in competitive entrance examinations.
He said the government had been focusing on the development of welfare schools and hostels for the past two years. Hostel repairs were completed last year at a cost of Rs 143 crore. RO plants, toilets and other basic facilities are also being provided to the students at the Centres, said Nayak.