Poor results haunt Odisha govt’s free IAS coaching, Higher Edu Secy asks officers to pull up socks    

Even though crores of rupees are being spent by the Odisha Higher Education Department to provide free IAS coaching to aspirants, the initiative seems to have failed to produce the desired result. 

The higher Education department secretary expressed his dissatisfaction over the poor performance of the government’s free IAS coaching facility at a meeting held recently. He wished to know why the success rate of Odia students is not increasing despite the pumping of so much money by the government. He directed the concerned officials to look into it. 

On the other hand, the aspirants have pinned the blame on the alleged poor standard of coaching in Odisha, which they claim, is preventing Odia students from performing at par with their counterparts in other states. 

“Compared to Kota of Rajasthan, Bihar or Delhi, the success rate is poor in Odisha. Here we are lacking in quality coaching. The fact is that the government has opened the coaching centres in name only. It is least bothered about the results. Some organisations are only minting money using this centre,” alleged  Chandeswar Rout, an aspirant. 

Another aspirant Saibandhu Jena said the government should take steps to provide better coaching facilities and advertise about the centres. 

The Higher Education department had opened free IAS coaching centres at eight universities and over 50 degree colleges. The free coaching was provided from 2016 to 2018. But it failed to produce the desired result. 

So, the government in the second phase roped in a private organisation named Dhyeya Institute to provide free coaching to aspirants in Bhubaneswar in the year 2019-20. As many as 99 students enrolled to avail free coaching facility. But, this time too, none could crack the UPSC exam. 

As of now, the department has signed an agreement with another organisation and made arrangements for coaching of 200 students. 
“Civil Services exam is a tough competitive exam. The aspirants need constant monitoring. Their motivational levels should be increased.

They should be given writing assignments. The organisation having such commitments should be engaged for better results,” said Pramod Padhi, an educationist.