Jamia RCA a ‘second family’ for over 200 civil servants

New Delhi: As many as 220 students have been selected in civil services in the last 10 years from the Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) established at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. They say that the RCA is like their second home.

Apart from the students successfully cracking the civil services exam, another 376 students have been selected for top government institutions serving as Provincial Civil Service (PCS), Bank Probationary Officers, Reserve Bank of India, etc.

The Jamia RCA provides free coaching to students for various government job competitive examinations. The students can take admission at the Jamia RCA only after passing an entrance exam.

In 2020, 44 RCA candidates had cleared the UPSC exam which included the third exam topper Junaid Ahmed. In the same year, Sanchita Sharma of the Jamia RCA topped the list of successful candidates who cracked the UPSC exam. She prepared for the examination at the RCA hostel for the last two years.

Since its inception in 2010, Jamia’s RCA has contributed to producing more than 200 civil servants through the UPSC examination, currently serving in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), etc.

Apart from this, 245 students of the RCA have cracked Provincial civil services exam for the position of SDM and DSP, RBI (Grade-B), Assistant Commandant (CAPF), IB, Assistant Commissioner (Provident Fund) and Bank Probationary Officer, etc.

Farman Khan, an IAS officer working as an Assistant Collector in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, remembers his journey with the Jamia RCA, saying, “Jamia RCA is not a coaching academy for me but my second family.”

Farman told IANS, “I have learned everything in life at the Jamia Millia Islamia. All my failures and all my success are related to Jamia. I became an IAS officer in 2019.”

Similar views have also been echoed by Harish Dayama, an IPS officer posted for the security of the Punjab Chief Minister. He says, “I am very fortunate that I joined the Jamia RCA. I had emailed RCA after reading about it in an online advertisement in 2011. I got a reply to my email from the RCA. I had just gone there asking for study material. RCA officials did not give me the study material but motivated me to take admission in their coaching academy.”

He said, “After that I took the RCA exam and took admission there. I could not clear the interview for the first round. After that I prepared again and got selected for the IPS in 2013. I can never forget the role of RCA in my success.”

Priyanka Shukla, an IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre credits the Jamia RCA for her success. When she could not succeed in cracking the UPSC exam even after spending huge money on another coaching institute, she then turned her attention to the Jamia RCA. She successfully aced the civil services exam in 2018 after joining the RCA and secured 109th rank in the UPSC exam.

Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar congratulated all successful candidates for their stupendous feat.

Sharing another successful story, a student of Jamia RCA did his schooling from a madrasa. Today, he is running a successful startup in the field of imparting early school education. The student has been identified as Shamshad Alam, who originally hails from Chhapra in Bihar. He has also studied from the Jamia RCA and completed his graduation and postgraduation degrees from the university. But, instead of taking up a regular job, he wanted to educate people and develop new employment opportunities for them.

Shamshad said that he has started his own educational institution in Arunachal Pradesh by the name of ‘Edunachal’. At present, it has three branches in different parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Training related to skill development, workshops, communication skills are being imparted in these institutions in coordination with various universities and colleges. – IANS