Maharashtra edu department to encourage students to chase civil service dream

Hoping to increase state representation in civil services, Maharashtra will encourage students to prepare for civil services exams right from their school years.

Hoping to increase state representation in civil services, Maharashtra will encourage students to prepare for civil services exams right from their school years. The state school education department on Wednesday passed a government resolution (GR) proposing a slew of measures, chapters in textbooks, workshops and school-level guidance cells, to give students an early start in preparing for the exams.

The state government is worried about the poor percentage of Maharastrian students opting for a career in public service cadre . (HT Photo for Representation)

The GR is based on the recommendations made by former chief secretary Arun Bongirwar. The state government, worried about the poor percentage of Maharastrian students opting for a career in public service cadre had appointed a committee led by Bongirwar in April, 2006. “Maharashtra’s participation in competitive exams has improved slightly over the last five years but the numbers need to increase further,” said Suvarna Kharat, deputy secretary of the department. “Kids usually look at only engineering or medicine as career options. By the time they consider civil services, it is too late.”

Adding that this is the first time that these efforts will be directed towards schoolkids, Kharat said, “We were taking steps to urge students to appear for competitive exams but that was happening only at the higher-education level. School students were not getting any information.”

One of the recommendations in the GR is to that the education department make children aware about civil services in Classes 10 and 12. The resultion goes on to say that the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education can take help of coaching centres such as Pre-IAS training institute and Yashada.

Another suggestion is to organise a two-day workshop on competitive exams for top performers and parents in the Class 10 and 12 board exams in every district. Students who have qualified for IAS should be called for counselling.