Abandoned shed becomes Osmania University's own Civil Services Academy

HYDERABAD: In a first of its kind, Osmania University has established an in-house "Civil Services Academy" to prepare its students for various competitive exams.

A workshop shed on the university campus that had been abandoned for three decades has now been converted into the Civil Service Academy. It was University Vice- Chancellor Prof D Ravinder Yadav who proposed the establishment of the academy in this abandoned shed.

Soon, the Civil Service Academy on the university campus would also have upgraded infrastructure, including a library, security, Wi-Fi, and other facilities, allowing students to study for competitive examinations round the clock.

"Since a majority of our students come from low-income or underprivileged families, they are often hesitant to set lofty goals. Whenever I ask our students what they want to do, they say they want to be teachers or do small jobs. However, I believe that it is important to dream big in order to achieve big things, so I want my students to dream big and achieve great things in life. So we decided to establish this academy so that our students who come to the university as students could indeed leave as competent civil servants", Dr. Ravinder Yadav told NewsTAP.

"We needed a large space to set up an academy for civil service aspirants now that we had decided to open one. We chose to establish the Civil Service Academy in a long-abandoned workshop shed on the university campus. When I first visited the shed, it was in disrepair and even impossible to enter, but we had completely transformed it into a beautiful academy within eight months," said Prof Ravinder Yadav.

Dr Ravinder Yadav told NewsTAP, "The university spent Rs 2 crores on setting up the academy, and Rs 5 lakh was sponsored by the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) for coaching the civil service aspirants. We are also planning to approach the state government for further help."

"Despite the fact that aspirants are already using the academy, coaching will begin on January 1, 2023. We have English coaching classes planned for the morning hours, and after lunch, we will provide coaching for subject-specific classes. We would also invite prominent IAS and IPS officers from the state to interact with students and motivate them to pass the civil service exams," he added.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who inaugurated the Coaching Academy, had proposed in a meeting of vice chancellors the establishment of training centres in universities to provide students with the opportunity to pass competitive exams. He expressed his delight that the university had implemented his proposal and suggested that other important arrangements be made at the facility.

"We have established this academy at a time when even the Telangana state government is on a recruiting spree; therefore, I'm sure that this academy would help the students in obtaining government jobs," Prof Ravinder Yadav said.