12, Jan 2012

In Hyderabad there is no shortage of intensive coaching for entrance exams, be it for institutes offering MBA or the civil services. And now candidates from the minority communities as well are supported in their preparation for the All India civil services examinations. At least two major institutions in the city offer coaching free of cost. Yet there have been few takers so far.

In 2009, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu) started Civil Services Entrance Academy for Minorities and Women (CSEAMW). They started with only 46 students and the number has not increased much; last year there were just 67 who enrolled. During the last two years it has only been coaching students who have qualified for prelims and for group I examination.

Compared to Manuu’s CSEAMW, the Centre for Education and Development of Minorities (CEDM), sponsored by the state government, has been in the business for a longer period, from 1994. It has so far coached 54,000 students but only one aspirant of the 2009 batch could make it to the Indian Revenue Service.

The situation is extremely discouraging. Educationists and academics believe that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Muslim students are less aware of job prospects in the civil services when compared to their Christian and Sikh counterparts among the minorities. The coaching institutions are dealing with the problem of few students as well as constant poor results of their candidates’ efforts. Prof S.A. Shukoor, CEDM director, says that “students from minority communities from Andhra Pradesh usually don’t appear for civil services examinations.” Apart from the disadvantages of low awareness and poor participation, aspirants from the minorities also suffer from lack of career guidance and poor financial background. “Those who aspire to be in the civil services are either crippled by poverty or by lack of counseling,” Shukoor said.

The experts believe that most of them take up jobs in the private sector and are thus hard pressed for time. Investing a year or two in preparation for exams does not seem practical for them. The fee reimbursement and scholarship scheme in the state has further worked against the already slim prospect of them appearing for the civil services examinations. Now large numbers of the students are instead pursuing a postgraduate degree in business management. They say that students are conditioned to pursue professional courses such as engineering and medicine while graduates are absorbed into the BPO sector. “The lack of parental support also makes aspirants to give up their ambition,” says Gopal Krishna from a leading Civil Services training academy.

Osmania University is the nodal agency for CEDM. Prof Shukoor points out that only two or three of a batch of 50 clear the preliminary examinations. “Women who wish to pursue a future in the civil services are bogged down by filial or marital pressures,” says Dr. Shagufta Shahid from CSEAMW. Instances of parents and husbands supporting women who wish to carve a niche in the civil services are rare. The ignorance among students is so alarming that they enquire about the nature of the certificate that they assume will be awarded to them at the end of the training programme.

CSEAMW has started issuing circulars to colleges in and around Hyderabad to educate students about the bright career prospects in the civil services. “Despite free training and hostel facilities, barely a handful has cleared the interview after the prelims. Also, full-time faculty for the centre is the need of the hour,” says Shagufta. But Manuu has bigger plans for the centre. Besides appointing dedicated faculty, it plans to build a purpose-specific building for the students. “All this is going to happen in the near future,” she adds.