BHUBANESWAR: The Higher Education Department has selected four places in the State to begin coaching centres for aspirants of Civil Services and similar other national-level competitive examinations.
It has decided to set up these centres at Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Balasore and Berhampur in the current financial year.
While some State-run universities have in the past planned to provide IAS coaching free of cost to aspirants, no such plan could materialise till date. Apparently, the Department has decided to set up these centres independently and not tag them to any universities or colleges.
Just 14 Odia students had qualified in the last Civil Services examination, conducted by the Union public Service Commission. In the previous years, the number of qualifying students was limited to 10 or less than that even as more number of students qualify for the tests in neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
The poor performance of Odia students is being attributed to lack of proper coaching facilities in the State. Poor communication skill of the aspirants is also one of the major reasons behind their poor performance, experts say. Of around 10,000 candidates who appear for the preliminary IAS examination, only 100-odd get selected for the Mains and of this number, just a handful clear the viva.
Sources said coaching in these centres will be provided at a nominal cost and a final decision on the project will be taken in a meeting between the Higher Education and Finance Departments soon.