P.S. Ravindran, director of Vajiram & Ravi
P.S. Ravindran, Director of the IAS coaching institution Vajiram & Ravi, has been associated with Vajiram & Ravi for the past 40 years. He shared with Frontline his insights on building a strong institution fostering young minds towards excellence. Excerpts:
How old is the institute and how has it grown?
Vajiram & Ravi was started in February 1976. It was founded by the late Prof. P. Velayutham, who was the first Indian to be awarded the Diploma in International Law by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague.
Over the years Vajiram & Ravi has grown to be the most popular centre for CSE aspirants. It conducts classes in general studies, essay writing and the optional subjects of anthropology, commerce, economics, geography, history, mathematics, political science & international relations, psychology, and public administration and sociology.
The institute has also been conducting a “Test Series” for both the preliminary test and the main examination in the above subjects to help students develop their answerwriting skills. Vajiram & Ravi has been imparting online coaching to candidates who may not be able to make use of our regular coaching programmes, and also as a support programme for those who have completed their classroom coaching with us. In the past 20 years, almost in all the years, the All India firstranking candidates have been from Vajiram & Ravi. In more than 40 years of its existence, it has helped over 10,000 candidates join India’s top civil services.
The current Director, P.S. Ravindran, has been associated with Vajiram & Ravi since October 1978. With his teaching experience of nearly 40 years, the institute is able to provide a strong academic orientation to its programmes.
What is Vajiram’s USP for students?
Vajiram scores over all other institutes in imparting quality education. The 40strong teaching faculty is highly trained and qualified, many of them household names among civil services aspirants. Vajiram’s success is largely due to its ability to retain its teaching faculty that has ensured high level of teaching standards in the institute. Our teachers are fulltime teachers and teach only in Vajiram & Ravi.
Apart from imparting knowledge in various subjects, Vajiram also teaches the importance of discip line and regular studies. The highly efficient management system for scheduling of classes, tests and assignments ensures a timebound coverage of the syllabus. Vajiram has also successfully imparted the culture of hard work among its students by walking the talk.
With MBA and other data-related courses becoming big draws, how is the demand for the IAS?
Since 2000 the number of students appearing in the CSE has been steadily going up. This trend has only accelerated since 2008, when the global economic
recession hit the job market in the corporate sector in India as well. In addition, the reservation policy of the government has made the CSE extremely popular among a section of the population.
Moreover, the CSE is no longer an examination for the “elites” only. Its popularity has spread to the rural areas as well. Further, the introduction of the language & literature of many Indian languages as optional subjects has endeared the CSE to rural students.
With so many coaching institutes, has higher education become expensive?
The growing number of coaching institutes has put a check on the rapid rise in the fee structure. It has also forced a qualitative rise in the standard of the training imparted in such institutions.
What are the tips you would like to give to students preparing for the CSE this year?
For the upcoming preliminary test, students need to develop a thorough knowledge of current developments, including in the areas of economics, polity, environment, science & technology, and the various schemes introduced by the government. Current developments in various areas may form up to twothirds of the general studies paper. Beware of negative marks. Thoughtless guess work may push up the negative score. One should aim to answer about 75 to 80 questions. It is better to revise four to five times a set of two wellselected study material, rather than going through a large number of study material once or twice. Repetition is the hallmark of success. Take as many mock tests as possible. Do not neglect the civil services aptitude test. After the preliminary test is over in June 2018, you may listen to a video talk by P.S. Ravindran on how to prepare for the main exam on the institute’s website.