Aiming to provide a holistic learning environment for the civil service aspirants who receive coaching at the varsity's Residential Coaching Academy (RCA), Jamia Milia Islamia here has opened a separate hostel for them.
The 154-seater hostel constructed at a cost of Rs 7 crore was today inaugurated by UGC Chairman Ved Prakash.
The RCA, which is run by the Centre for Coaching and Career Planning of Jamia, provides coaching for civil services examinations to 200 students belonging to the minorities, SC and ST communities while 50 seats are reserved for girls.
The students are selected for the free coaching through a national-level written test followed by individual interviews. Hostel accommodation, too, is free for the selected candidates. So far, the students were given accommodation at the different varsity hostels depending on the availability of seats.
"RCA will become a flagship institution in the country in the near future to train students from humble origins and weaker sections of society such as SC, ST, minorities and women," said Jamia Vice-Chancellor, Talat Ahmed.
Ahmad also underlined the importance of teaching and research and exhorted faculty members and students to engage in research activities that would help them get fellowships which would enable them to become first-rate teachers.
The RCA hostel has two blocks with 76 rooms and can accommodate 154 students. It has a dining hall, kitchen, reading room, common room and residences for wardens. It also has a sewage plant which would allow it to recycle water for horticultural purposes.
"RCA now has an enhanced capacity of 200 students with 50 seats for girls. Last year, 91 students of RCA qualified in the civil services preliminary examinations who are now being coached for the mains," according to a statement here.
