One of the greatest writers in Hindi, Munshi Premchand once said: “Sensitivity that cannot do others good, is futile”, and UP PCS officer, Pankaj Kumar Verma, found his life’s lesson in it.
The 2012 batch officer opened a free coaching centre for aspiring civil servants in Aligarh.
In seven years, his ‘Civil Service Margdarshika’ produced over 60 UP PCS officers among the over 300 who cleared various competitive exams.
Even this year, of the 18, who appeared for UPPCS interviews, six have been selected. Besides, 50 others from CSM have cleared the Lekhpal exams.
Famously called ‘Coaching Wale SDM’, Mr. Verma told Indian Masterminds, “We have students from Bihar as well. Since 2018, every year we have had at least six aspirants cracking the UPPCS.”
HOW IT STARTED
Coming from a farmer’s family, Mr. Verma knew the extra toil a student with limited resources goes through.
During his posting in Aligarh in Sadar Tehsil ‘Kol’, the officer observed that if the youth of the area needed direction.
After a discussion with fellow officers, CSM was born in 2016.
But why did he start coaching for civil service? Pankaj Verma, who hails from Mitauli Tehsil of Lakhimpur Kheri, said, “Even a commoner can bring social reforms once he/she gets into civil services.”
CSM has brought a cascading effect, a beginning of a chain reaction of social good, he says.
THE FIRST BATCH
Coaching started in October 2016 after an ad in a newspaper that saw around 1,200 applicants.
Of these 500 were given admission after an entrance. There two batches. One was taught for 4 days and another for 3 days a week.
After a month, the final batch was left with 300. “But there was no PCS success in the first year,” Mr. Verma recalls.
It was not until 2018, that the first success came, a CSM student was selected for Naib Tehsildar from UPPCS-2017.
It was a huge moment, the officer said. His team then updated their coaching strategy.
MAKEOVER
That one selection made Mr. Pankaj Verma make new plans.
He approached the spacious Malaviya library for help and even got crowdfunding to build a better centre where aspirants could study throughout the day.
But then, Mr. Verma was transferred to Bijnor that very year.
He took a risk and handed the responsibility of teaching to some of the students, who had qualified for mains. “Even to this day, CSM has not had any coaches from outside.
“It is either officers or successful students from previous years who train the next lot,” Mr. Verma, who has done DPhil said.
“A chain has formed, yesterday’s student is today’s teacher, waiting to be the officer tomorrow,” he added.
CRACKING THE CODE
While the focus at CSM remains on the Test series, the students follow NCERTs and standard notes and books.
There are tests after each book is completed. Before Prelims, the students go through 80 mock tests.
Tests at CSM are compulsory, “students cannot miss them”, said the “Coaching Wale SDM”. They are as per the UPPSC’s OMR sheet.
“Students who do not do well in tests are coached separately,” he added.
Now posted in Maharajganj as ADM, Mr. Verma monitors CSM from his phone. “I am there once every two months and also take classes,” said the officer, whose team includes officers like Himanshu, Rajkumar Gupta (Tesildar), Raghvendra Singh (DHO), Rajveer Singh (ADSTO), Aniruddha Pratap Singh (City Magistrate, Saharanpur), Rakesh Patel (ADM, Budaun), Jai Prakash (Tehsildar) and Vibha Srivastava etc.
Mr Verma signed off with a note that none should forget their “days of struggle and reciprocate the good they received from society”.
