CHENNAI: Next time you come across unsuccessful civil service candidates, cheer them up; they can still be master trainers of tomorrow who add that one important element even the best professors lack: a perspective about the challenge.
As the city emerged as one of the main centres of Civil Service examination coaching over the years, the number of academies offering training has grown by leaps and bounds – there are about 65 coaching centres in Chennai now, and the number is steadily growing. According to those in the field, about three to four new academies spring up each year. Most of these centres are run by aspirants who failed to win it for themselves, but have emerged successful as mentors.
The mushrooming of coaching centres is directly proportional to the demand, as the number of aspirants keeps going up with each passing year, more so after the UPSC’s decision to relax the upper age limit and maximum number of attempts. As Kiran A, an aspirant from Chennai puts it, “We choose academies based on our specific needs. If my optional is Sociology, I would choose an institute that is good at teaching that subject. No one sticks to one academy. Each candidate usually gets himself enrolled in two or three different institutions depending on the need.”
While there is a boom in the teaching shop industry, not all are excited. It is seen as a bane at least by a section of the people at the helm, who demand licensing for this uncontrolled growth. “I strongly recommend legal regulation for the academies. Most of the private commercial institutions lure candidates through their catchy advertisements. But a majority of them do not have proper infrastructure or experienced trainers,” says M Karthikeyan, director, Manithaneyam IAS Academy, one of the noted charitable institutes that offer training for poor students.
But even while agreeing that regulation is needed, not all agree that the mushrooming of such training centres is a problem. “Even though I have good infrastructure in my institution, I don’t consider it necessary. All that a candidate needs is standard reading materials, highly standardised question papers and an experienced mentor,” says R Sathya, who runs Strategy IAS Academy. When he launched his institute in 2004, there were only about four other academies offering coaching for Civil Service aspirants. Now, a decade later, the number has increased by about 15 times, which, for Sathya, is a welcome challenge. “I don’t see this as a problem; it will help increase the quality of the institutions... I am compelled to improve my quality every year to thrive in the industry, which in turn benefits the candidates.”
There are more than five charitable institutions in Chennai, which provide free coaching, and they all have, in general, better infrastructure than most of the private institutions in the city.
According to Viji A from Thiruvaipadi, Thanjavur, a student of one of the free coaching centres, choosing an institute depends entirely on the candidate’s economic constraints. Significantly, though students who opt for charitable institutions are economically-backward, the quality of coaching is as good or even better than the private institutions.
“Charitable institutions do play a role, particularly for the economically backward students. Their coaching is also good in some subjects,” Kiran points out.