Students of Osmania University prefer Telangana government jobs over UPSC

Since the cell’s establishment in 2012, more than 300 students attending these classes got placed for positions like sub-inspectors, assistant public prosecutors, child development project officers and village revenue officers. However, students from OU are yet to make a mark in the All India Services (AIS). Since 2012, just two students who took coaching in EOC classes cracked the UPSC tests.

University officials say that students from OU are not showing much interest in central services due to lack of English skills. Manavata Roy, a student activist from OU says, “Very few students from OU show interest in central services and focus all their energies on state services. The university may intensify its efforts to encourage them try for central services which have more openings every year.

Moreover, getting UPSC coaching from private institutes costs thousands of rupees, which many students from Osmania University cannot afford, as they come from economically weak backgrounds.” However, efforts of EOC might be hit by poor funding. Of the Rs 1.25crore allotted to the cell, just about Rs 30lakh has been released in the last three years. This makes it impossible for the cell to give study material or provide additional resources for learning. Students rely completely on running notes. The honorarium given to faculty is also lower than that is given to those in private coaching institutes.

The academy was set up in 2009 by the ministry of human resource development for improving the intake of people belonging to religious minorities and women in the All India Services.

However, the academy is not able to make a mark.

By contrast, as many as 19 students got into the Civil Services from the Jamia Milia Islamia for the 2014 batch and 11 the previous year. There too, a similar residential academy is functional. Lack of quality teaching staff is cited as a major problem with Manuu. Students of the previous batches also cite the lack of a conducive environment for infusing zeal and competitiveness among students.

A former student said, “Initial days of coaching were spent on “motivating” students. This turned out to be quite boring. For motivation, we need interactive sessions with young as well as retired civil servants. Unfortunately, such interactions were rare.” Another student said, “There is the need for an atmosphere of competitiveness. The academy, however, functions like any other department. Students have to follow bureaucratic procedures to get even a book. The library in the academy shuts down by 6 pm.”

“Leaving aside one or two, most of the faculty who used to teach us did not possess knowledge or required skills to guide students preparing for a high-stakes exam like that of the UPSC,” a student said. This year, students who cleared the prelims are being sent to well-known coaching centers in Ashok Nagar. However, students demand that some arrangement be made to bring in high quality teachers at the stage of preliminary coaching too.