Introduction

Indian Bureaucracy plays very important role in governance and delivery of justice. As per the reservation policy, every year mandated number of tribals get into the Civil Services. But at micro level, even among the tribals, there is uneven representation among various tribal communities and states. Even the number of candidates qualifying varies from state to state. Certain states usually have more candidates qualifying for the Civil Services Examination. This is more prominent in case of tribals as certain states and communities do dominate disproportionately. This is not because other tribals are less capable or competent, but because they lack the orientation and the environment that promotes competitive spirit. States of central India namely Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh representing 70% of tribals have very poor representation.

Civil Services Exam is the toughest of all the competitive exams. For about 1000 vacancies, approximately 5 lakh  candidates appear for Preliminary Examination. Even with such stiff competition, it has become a dream job for every aspiring youth. Therefore, SEA has decided to offer tribal students a platform  with all possible features to empower them to compete for Civil Services Exam. Special care has been taken to address the typical deficiencies noticed among tribal youths that act as barriers. To name few, sufficient care has been taken to overcome their issues on financial deficiency and aim to provide proper guidance and mentoring, apart from personal hand-holding to enable them to achieve their targets. We strongly believe that this initiative will create an ecosystem where more and more will get motivated and empowered not only for jobs advertised by UPSC but for the state level exams and other competitive exams also.

   Objectives

Programme tries to create a competitive ecosystem to prepare for UPSC exam for tribal students. A select group of students will be especially groomed with proper attention at Bhubaneshwar. This number to begin with is kept at 20 in order that a teacher can pay sufficient attention to all the students. This can be increased depending upon response of the students and arrangement of other required resources.

Main objective is to ensure all candidates to qualify the Exam and finally succeed with good ranks. 

   Modes of Programme

Programme is designed for both Residential and Online. For Residential programme, candidates have to be available full time for next 9 months at Bhubaneshwar. For online programme, it is not necessary for staying at Bhubaneshwar but may be asked to come over at regular intervals for attending doubt clearing classes and discussion on various topics. The broad scheme for Residential and online programme are given below.

  Residentials Programme

Classroom Session 300 hours

Supply of standard study materials

Supply of monthly updates on Current Affairs

Sample question and answers.

Mock tests

Mentoring

Hand holding

Access to books, magazines ,journals, newspapers etc.

  Online Programme

Online class of  300 hours

Supply of standard study materials

Supply of monthly updates on Current Affairs

Sample question and answers.

Mock tests

Mentoring

   Course Design for Residential Programme

Members of the association being highly qualified and experienced professionally and managerially have resolved to make this a value based Institution. The values which shall form the basis of all activities are sacrosanct.

  Class room sessions

300 hours of classroom sessions have been programmed to cover the entire syllabus within 9 months. Contents have been designed with aim to help for main subjects. 

Implementation Strategy:  More of interactive class sessions, all video recorded for subsequent analysis.

  Team Building

Candidates will be preparing to crack Civil Services Exam as a Team. Preparing together, discussing in group, exchanging and supporting each other is considered as one of the credible ways of exceling in competitive exam. 

Implementation Strategy:  All candidates will move as a team. All will be asked to choose areas of their strengths to lead in the team. For example, a stronger in math may be asked to take a lead in that subject. This will not only help them to prepare in a group, but also build confidence among themselves which will be useful in many ways during their interview.

  Communication Skill

It refers to exchange of information between two or more persons or groups. Communication gap is treated as one of the severe drawbacks of a candidate. Hence fluent English speaking, writing proficiency to express effectively are given utmost priority to improve communication skills. 

Implementation Strategy: English language lectures, spoken English sessions, interview sessions, experience sharing, building self-confidence by eliminating fear factor.

  Motivation

To keep up and sustain the spirit of competitiveness, motivation is essential. Dedication and hard work are undoubtedly practiced during the preparation stage. However, sometimes intermediate failures or lack of adequate progress may create hinder among students and puts break on their preparation. To overcome them, it is important to motivate them to keep up the wining spirit. 

Implementation Strategy: Interaction programmes with top bureaucrats, eminent personalities, and intellectuals are planned.

  Interpersonal Skills, Etiquette, Emotional Intelligence and Ethics

Interpersonal skills are the life skills which we use every day to communicate and interact with other peoples at the individual and group level. These include attributes like self-confidence, critical thinking, active listening, effective expression, communication skills, etiquettes, emotional intelligence, ethics etc. Programme skills provide systematic exposure in understanding above aspects. 

Implementation Strategy: Lectures, case studies, discussions, workshops, debate, handling situations etc. are planned to be conducted.

  Stress Management

To keep up and sustain the spirit of competitiveness, motivation is essential. Dedication and hard work are undoubtedly practiced during the preparation stage. However, sometimes intermediate failures or lack of adequate progress may create hinder among students and puts break on their preparation. To overcome them, it is important to motivate them to keep up the wining spirit. 

Implementation Strategy: Interaction programmes with top bureaucrats, eminent personalities, and intellectuals are planned.

  Mentoring

Mentor means an experienced and trusted advisor. Mentoring is the act of advising and guiding someone, especially a young person to give a feeling that there is someone volunteered to care for you, help you and guide you.  It has positive effect on personal and professional lives. Mentors can be peers, friends, advisors or a guide.

Implementation Strategy: Frequent interaction between Mentor and Mentee and at least 2-3 hours qualitative interaction in person every month.

  Hand Holding

It is the process of careful support or guidance to someone during learning process or period of change. Not all candidates have the same capabilities. Care should be taken to identify such people needing extra support, and prepare suitable action plan to address their problems.  

Implementation Strategy: Regular assessments, feedbacks will indicates weak  areas  which can be improved by extra classes, doubt   clearing   sessions. Communicate frequently and  give constructive feedback to the candidate. Very often  it is not about giving them solutions but helping  them  to find their solution.

  Access to books, magazines ,journals, newspapers

One of the best sources for imporving knowledge on current affairs  is to read newspapers,  magazines, journals etc. as much as possible. At present several such study materials are available as hardcopy as well as online. 

Implementation Strategy: Build a physical as well as virtual library of such newspaper and magazine that can be used by all collectively and in shared.

   Course Content and Coverage

Entire course as presented by UPSC, is to be covered at least one month before the Preliminary Exam. After detailed consultation with experienced teachers, the hours of classroom sessions required has been worked  out broadly. It more or less  confirms  class room hours of reputed and standard coaching institutes such as several physical coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi as well as online BYJU.

Class duration are flexible and arranged in such a way that enough time is provided for every chapter. It would also take into consideration for candidates attending online classes. The coverage of contents are made such that, for main examination focus will require only for optional subject and updating on current Affairs. 

As seen from the course design, lot of emphasis has been given on other related aspects. The appropriate domain experts will also be associated with this programme. Senior bureaucrats and persons of eminence will be holding interaction sessions.

   Faculty

All faculties have more than ten years of experience and are associated with reputed coaching institutes of Bhubaneswar. There will also be volunteer faculties having roles of providing specific details and case studies. As of now seven faculties have agreed to contribute in this coaching programme.

   Expansion Programme

This programme is attempted with an noble intention. Though it is primarily be focused for UPSC exam, however it will also cover majority portion for courses under state level Administrative Service like OAS, WBCS and JPSC.