Following increasing demand from aspirants appearing for UPSC Mains examinations to be a part of the state government's All India Civil Services Coaching Centre (AICSCC), the institute has started online coaching this year and inducted 75 students. The institute used to provide online coaching for prelims exam only until last year.
This aside, AICSCC also extended the intake for the full-time residential training from 220 candidates to 296. Of the 710 UPSC aspirants from the state who cleared this year's prelims, 496 applied for admissions in AICSCC and 371 have joined the institute.
To meet as many candidates as could be, the institute provided extra accommodation in the vicinity and began the coaching in online mode. The initiative is a part of the state government's mission to enhance Tamil Nadu's presence in the civil services, which fell to 27 in 2021, under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme, officials added.
57 TN candidates were shortlisted for the civil services in 2024, a high of the past five years, with 35 having undergone training at AICSCC. In contrast, seven candidates from the institute had made it in 2021. AICSCC has traditionally performed well, with 73 out of 100 selected candidates coming from the institute in 2014 when it performed at its best in the past decade. As per authorities, even the number of applications for mains classes itself is a reflection of the institute gaining strength in preparing aspirants for the exam.
Apart from this, 225 candidates are also trained full-time and 100 candidates are trained part-time for the coming prelims by AICSCC. Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC) in association with AICSCC will conduct an examination on July 26 to select 1,000 candidates, who will get a monthly allowance of Rs 7,500 for 10 months to study for prelims under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme. Based on this test, interested candidates will also be enrolled for coaching in AICSCC in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai.
Talking about the increasing number of women appearing for UPSC exams, AICSCC principal T Sankara Saravanan said 30% of the 375 candidates preparing for the mains at the institute were women. "Even without any reservation for women in union government services, their numbers have been going up steadily in our programme.". This reflects the effect of state programs such as Naan Mudhalvan scheme and Pudhumai Penn programme," he said, pointing out that 40% of the successful aspirants from AICSCC are women, above the national average of 24%-34%.
Saravanan pointed out that after the new residential complex to house 500 aspirants at Anna Nagar is completed, the institute would be able to accommodate even more aspirants.