The Centre at Presidency University Will Close down Soon
Civil servant aspirants from the state and the north-east
will soon have a coaching school to fulfill their dreams. The higher education department
is all set to inaugurate an IAS coaching centre at the Bidhan Nagar College. Worried
about the dwindling number of candidates qualifying for IAS and other allied services,
chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to initiate the new venture.
Over the past few years, students from Jharkhand and Bihar have bagged high ranks
in the civil service examination while West Bengal has lagged behind this year,
there was only one student who secured a rank in the top 100 in the UPSC exams.
He had taken tuitions from a private IAS training institute. In previous years,
there have been none from the state among the toppers. The new coaching centre will
be run in association with Bidhan Nagar College. The idea is to change the scenario
by handholding the aspirants, said a higher education department official.
Presidency College runs an IAS training centre which will be closed down soon. The
college which has been upgraded to a university asked for additional space to meet
the existing space crunch. The society that runs the IAS centre at Presidency University
has sent a letter and informed us that the training centre will formally close as
the University authorities are insisting on utilizing the space for their official
purpose to sort out the space crunch, said education minister Bratya Basu, confirming
the news.
The course will be coordinated by Bidhan Nagar College and will be supported by
the state government. They have the logistics and adequate space to start the IAS
and allied services training institute. Moreover, Salt Lake is also a rapidly developing
area and a technology hub. So, we decided to set up the new institute at Bidhan
Nagar College, added higher education secretary Satish Tewari.
Basu said that the coaching institute will also train students from the north-east
since they lack opportunities.
Aiming to rope in students for the UPSC prelims next year, the centre
will open its gates to the first batch after the pujas. The faculty will be chosen
from among former IAS officers, current civil servants and WBCS officers.
Courtesy: Times of India
