UPSC coaching thrives in Amaravati

Vijayawada: Amaravati as a capital region is fast emerging as a hub of coaching centres for competitive exams after the State bifurcation. However, Delhi and Hyderabad continue to be the most sought after destinations for aspirants aiming to get into State and Central Services.

• Around 15,000 aspirants from Andhra Pradesh go to Delhi and Hyderabad for civil services coaching every year
• On an average, that amounts to a loss of up to `200 crore revenue for the State
• New coaching centres in the city are coming up with innovative teaching techniques such as virtual classrooms to provide an alternative to the established study circles in Delhi and Hyderabad.

At a time when students with diverse academic and professional profiles are looking up to civil services as a lucrative career, there indeed happens to be a great business potential for coaching institutes. To cash in on their dreams, new study circles are coming up with innovative teaching techniques such as virtual classrooms to provide an alternative to the established study circles in Delhi and Hyderabad.

A Delhi-based coaching institute, ETEN IAS, opened a new branch in Vijayawada around seven months ago. ETEN has introduced digital classrooms, connecting the local aspirants with subject experts in Delhi. This attempt aims to bid adieu to conventional teaching methods and the faculty crunch. Time has to decide whether the innovative digital teaching will be appreciated by the tech-savvy aspirants.

The immediate question that comes to anyone’s mind is if it would be possible to impart comprehensive coaching to the job aspirants in Vijayawada. Director of Amaravati IAS Academy M Kranthi Simha answered the question in the affirmative. He said, “Professors from AP and Hyderabad go to Delhi to teach in reputed study circles. When we have these professors right here, we can definitely provide coaching for the benefit of the civil services aspirants.”

Kranthi Simha said that around 15,000 aspirants from Andhra Pradesh go to Delhi and Hyderabad for coaching every year. On an average, that amounts to a loss of up to Rs 200 crore revenue for the State, he added. Moreover, cost factor also plays a vital role when aspirants choose a coaching institute. Typically, to get coaching from an institute in Delhi, one has to shell out at least Rs 1.5 lakh.

The high cost of living in Delhi also adds up to the expenses, making it unaffordable for the middle and lower middle classes. The city’s UPSC study circles wish to cash in on this space. Their immediate target groups are students from rural background and lower middle class sections. However, aspirants seem to be having their own reasons for choosing Delhi and Hyderabad to live out their UPSC dreams.

Aspirants opine that it is very important to be around with people having same goal to sustain vigour in their preparation. “Ashok Nagar in Hyderabad and Old Rajender Nagar in Delhi are exclusive UPSC aspirant hubs,” Tadepalli Praveen, an aspirant from Vizag, said. “We do not have exclusive UPSC aspirant hubs in Vijayawada, unlike Hyderabad and Delhi.

You need to be in such exclusive zones to keep yourself motivated for such a long time,” he added. Meanwhile, the catchy slogan of a leading coaching centre goes like this, ‘New State, new capital, it’s time to say no to Delhi & Hyderabad’. But if the mood of aspirants with Andhra background who got special love for Delhi and Hyderabad is any sign, Amaravati still has to go a long way to say `No to Delhi and Hyderabad’.