ANISH DHOPESHWARKAR
The Indian Civil Service exam is considered to be one of the toughest to crack. Around 13,00,000 people apply for this exam and only a couple of thousands make through the final list. Though UP & Bihar are famous as BIMARU states, they always make it to the top 100 of the Civil Service Examination rankees. Presently, around 24% of the total civil servants are from these two states with 15% from UP and around 9 % from Bihar. But Goa seems to be lagging behind in providing fine officers to serve the nation. Same is the case with IIT-JEE, which is conducted by CBSE where thousands of engineering aspirants try their luck at getting into India’s finest engineering collage. Only a handful of Goans appear for and clear these exams, What prevents Goan people from seeking these coveted positions?
“We lack the competitive spirit and culture. It is quite strong in the Northern states, where children are groomed from a young age to take up civil services, defence, IIT-JEE, NEET exams seriously” Says Mohit Sukhtankar, Assistant Professor of Political Science. “Goan economy is self sustaining and stable. So, the youth do not feel the need to move out of the comfort zone to earn their livelihood and escape their surroundings. Our economy,culture, education system is not conducive enough for anyone to quit the ‘sushegaad” life in Goa and take the hard way” he adds. “Our education system is less competitive as compared to ICSE,CBSE”.
Further on the professor also points out that there are not many established coaching institutes for to guide Goan students towards Civil Services exam, and the students’ attitude towards studies too is casual. Competitive exams require long and grueling preparation, including the readiness to accept failure and start all over again if need be. “People choose to remain unemployed or be in some sort of disguised unemployment rather than taking up these challenges”, says Sukhtankar.
Advait Dhopeshwarkar civil engineering student from IIT Madras avers that students prefer to study for boards for subjective questions rather than opting for competitive problems.“Boards are very predictable, there are no surprises. One can easily score good marks by referring to previous years’ question papers. On the other hand, IIT-JEE has a history of producing some of the most difficult, questions on many topics. These questions are subjective, and probe students’ understanding and ability to apply the knowledge. Here, practical knowledge is required rather than rote-learning”, says Dhopeshwarkar. “Goan schools have better teacher-student ratio, but fail to develop interest among the students for learning. In Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh students start right from class VI and VII.” Here, we give unnecessary importance to the boards instead of competitive exams like JEE,NTSE,MCT, and that needs to change, says the IITian
Esha Tirodkar, a Goan student currently studying in West Bengal’s National University of Judicial Science opines that in Goa, there is considerable lack of awareness of possible careear paths beyond the traditoinal medicine/engineering courses. “For various competitive exams, proper coaching is not available, and students have to study on their own or enroll in distant learning courses. And parents too have pessimistic approach with regard to these exams due to lack of awareness. So, in the end its all about being informed. Both parents and studentshould keep an open mind and keep an eye out for upcoming exams and career opportunities they offer” says Esha.
