Bhubaneswar, April 27: The civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is set to begin in June and aspirants from the state are already burning the midnight oil.
About 10,000 candidates from the state appear for the examinations every year. However, barely 15 manage to get into the all-India services. Many people feel that this dismal record is due to the lack of communication skills among the aspirants.
“The performance in civil services hasn’t been very good in the state and lack of both written and spoken communication skill remains one of the reasons,” said Linu Chayani, the director of Lisas’ one of the oldest coaching centres of civil services in the state.
“The mains require the candidates to answer the questions in minimum words, not crossing the word limit. It is here where the written communication is required,” said Hardaman Singh, executive director, Shardas’ IAS academy.
“Similarly, those who clear the mains get screened at the viva that requires good spoken skills that our students lack,” Singh added.
“Lack of confidence and delayed preparation are the other reasons,” adds Chayani.
About 70 per cent of the students who appear for these exams are from the Oriya medium schools and are not as good as their counterparts in English medium schools. Those students who can afford better coaching move to places such as Delhi, but a good number of students prefer to stay back and study in the state due to financial reasons.
“The schools definitely play a role, but a lot depends on the mindset of the students. They need to break the barriers and show confidence. In civil services, a candidate is not aware where he/she would be posted. It all depends on your attitude,” said Singh.
Certain changes have been introduced in the exam pattern this year. The preliminary stage will be replaced by a civil service aptitude test (CSAT). The papers will include communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical and general mental ability, decision-making, problem solving and English language comprehension skills.
