Patna, Jan. 23: Several candidates from Students Guidance Centre (SGC), set up by Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna, (CIMP) to provide free coaching to the socially backward sections of the state, have cracked the written test of common admission test (CAT) and banking services examinations.

SGC was started with the patronage of chief minister Nitish Kumar. It is the only centre in the state imparting free training CAT and GMAT entrance examinations.

Inspired by the success of Bihar mathematician Anand Kumar’s “Super 30”, the SGC was set up to provide free training to students of SC, ST and other backward commu-nities and also those coming from minority communities.

The project, planned by CIMP’s director V. Mukunda Das, focuses on accelerating the development of the state by training students from socially backward sections for admission to the top management institutes of the country. These students, though hugely talented, fail to make it to the elite institutes such as IIMs due to their poor socio-economic condition and lack of quality education.

“During the coaching, every student was provided with resources such as course content for CAT, counselling and personality development along with online and offline tests, round-the-clock access to library and computer laboratory,” said Sujit Kumar, adding the rigorous training that he underwent at the centre has helped him achieve his dream.

Around 40 students of SGC, which is barely a year old, have received interview calls from IIMs in Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Rohtak, Ranchi, Indore, Shillong and Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). A dozen candidates have also cleared the probationary officers’ examination.

“The attention, care and guidance given to students here is, comparably, the best in India. A social cost benefit study of the investment done by CIMP on the students show that they stand out much more than any other management institutions in the country,” Bishnu Shankar Prasad, the programme co-ordinator, said.

Narayan Saha, a student had just one line to express his elation. “I am speechless, can’t believe that I got through IIM.”

Another student, Tarique-ur-Rahman Ghani, said: “Without the support of CIMP and state government’s welfare department, I could not dream of clearing such a difficult exam.”