Housed in a mosque, Chennai-based IAS academy to train students from other religions too; more about Muslim IAS toppers

Photo Courtesy: AK IAS Academy

Azhagiya Kadan IAS Academy, a Chennai-based residential coaching institute meant for Muslim students appearing for civil services examinations, will now open its door to students from other religions too. The academy, known informally as Makka Masjid IAS Academy, will arrange an alternative place to house students of the other religions, as Muslim students are being accommodated in the...
mosque premise itself. The academy provides free food, accommodation and training, according to a report appeared in The Hindu newspaper which also quoted its founder Moulana Shamsudeen Qasismi.
The academy provides training to about 70 students annually, and its next entrance examinations will be conducted on August 30 at centres in — Tirunelveli, Madurai, Tiruchi, Chennai, Vellore, Krishnagiri and Coimbatore. Last year, it selected Muslim girl students too.
According to news reports, the academy meets the travel expenses of the students writing examinations and attending interviews. As the UPSC interviews are conducted only in Delhi, the academy claims it arranges its accommodation in Delhi as well.
Its website says, the Azhagiya Kadan IAS Academy is for the benefit of Muslim community, and it was started with “the intention for the upliftment of Muslim youth who lack behind in the field of Indian civil services”.
Further, it claims, it provides best of the faculties for civil services coaching “in an Islamic environment”, and which inculcates Islamic ethics “so in future the candidates of the academy will be pious and God fearing IAS/IPS officers who are free from evils like bribe, corruption and misuse of office and serve for the betterment of Muslim community and India as a whole”.
According to its site, the residents undergoing training must stay in a highly disciplined manner. And mobile phones are “strictly prohibited” in the campus.
In the civil services examination 2014, out of 1,236 successful candidates, only 40 were Muslims. Four of the 40 successful candidates were women.
Shah Faesal, a 2010 batch Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS is the first Kashmiri to top UPSC. But he is not the first Muslim to have the distinction of topping the exam. Former UP chief secretary and 1978 batch IAS, Javed Usmani and 1987 batch Bihar cadre IAS Amir Subhani topped the UPSC list earlier. Syed Shahabuddin, former Member of Parliament (1979-96) secured the second rank in civil services examinations, 1958 and opted for Indian Foreign Service. Shahla Nigar, 2001 batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS, got the second rank in UPSC.