Economically-weaker UPSC aspirants in Odisha to get free coaching

Bhubaneswar: In what could come as good news for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants from Odisha; the Department of Higher Education is going to offer free and subsidised coaching services in Bhubaneswar from this month.

The decision was taken to improve the success rate of aspirants from the State which has reportedly declined over the years. The coaching classes will begin from June 24 and in the first year, 100 aspirants will be admitted for the same. Many civil services aspirants have applied for admission into the classes where coaching will be imparted in the run up to preliminary and main examinations.

The Higher Education Department has assigned the task of conducting coaching classes to a private agency.

“Priority will be given to those who have cleared the preliminary examination. Our aim is to increase the success rate of aspirants from Odisha,” Additional Secretary of Higher Education Department, Parthasarathi Mishra said.

As per reports, aspirants, whose parents' annual income is more than Rs 2 lakh will have to pay 25 per cent of the fee, whereas for those under Rs 2 lakh, coaching will be imparted free of cost.

Educationists believe that such a step will help talented students from weaker financial background to get quality coaching. Earlier, coaching centres for civil services examinations were opened at 10 universities and 52 degree colleges across Odisha.

“Many talented students of the State can’t afford to bear the expenses of coaching and travelling to Delhi, so this seems like a very good step. In the long run, we will get to know whether it helped or not,” educationist Pritish Acharya said.