Bengaluru: The department of collegiate education is planning to provide free online coaching for competitive exams to up to 90,000 students, at an estimated cost of Rs 9 crore.Students who are residents of Karnataka will have to enrol through the Seva Sindhu portal. Each student will be allowed to enrol for coaching for a maximum of three competitive exams at a time.The exams that can be chosen include those for assistant professor posts, first division assistant, panchayat development officer, Group C jobs, police sub-inspector, village administrative officer, police constable, among others. A selected coaching centre will develop and operate a customised bilingual (Kannada and English) learning portal and mobile app. The platform is expected to provide 360 interactive online coaching sessions, with each session lasting 90 to 120 minutes.The coaching will cover general studies subjects, such as history, geography, Indian economy and polity, along with science and environment, logical reasoning, data interpretation, current affairs, Kannada and English language skills, and digital literacy. Exam-specific subjects and communication papers will also be covered. General studies will be common for all exam preparations.Each session will follow the syllabus, exam pattern and blueprint of the respective state or central competitive exam. The portal is proposed to support up to 90,000 registered students and handle peak concurrency of up to one lakh users. It will provide recorded classes, study material, session-wise multiple-choice questions, mock tests, previous question papers, and question banks.Students will receive a unique ID on registration and can access the portal using a one-time password sent to their phone. The system will also track attendance, participation, test performance, and progress. Every 15 days, a consolidated report has to be submitted to the department.The coaching programme for each exam is to be completed within 90 days. The estimated coaching cost is Rs 1,000 per student, with payment to the selected coaching centre based on the actual number of eligible students enrolled.If enrolment is below 90,000, additional students may be admitted in subsequent batches. If it exceeds 90,000, the coaching centre will have to accommodate the additional students on a pro bono basis.BOXSubjects That Will Be Covered* General studies: History (ancient, medieval, modern, Karnataka history), geography (physical, Indian, Karnataka), Indian economy, and Indian polity• Science & environment: General science (physics, chemistry, biology), science & technology advancements, environmental science/ecology• Aptitude & CSAT: Problem-solving sessions covering quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, and data interpretation• Current affairs: Weekly updates covering state (Karnataka), national, and international events, policies, and socio-economic indices• Language & communication: Targeted coaching for general Kannada and general English to ensure students clear mandatory language papers• Digital literacy: Basic to advanced modules on computer knowledge, IT trends, and e-governance initiatives in Karnataka
