To help students pursuing chartered accountancy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) proposes to increase the number of reading rooms-cum-resource centres in various parts of the State.
Currently five such reading rooms – two in Bangalore, and one each in Hubli, Mysore and Mangalore, are functioning.
In addition, four reading rooms will be opened in Bangalore and one each in Hubli, Belgaum, Mysore, Mangalore, Udupi and Bellary in the next six months, according to ICAI president K Raghu.
“During interaction with students we realised that there is a great demand for such initiatives. However, there are many students who do not have the place and facilities required to study the course back at home. The course requires great focus and reading rooms will facilitate such focus,” he said.
There are 25,000 students who are enrolled in the course in Bangalore alone and 4,000 in other parts of the State. The reading rooms with 50 to 100 seat capacity will have a library, computers, et al.
Across the country there are 93 such reading rooms. The ICAI wants to increase this number to 150.
Deepali R Nayak, a CA aspirant, said: “Reading rooms will be helpful for those who cannot attend coaching classes. Discussions on varied topics and interactions with other aspirants in such centres will also be very informative.”
Review of curriculum
ICAI, which plans to review its curriculum, has set up a committee for the purpose.
“We are interacting with industry experts and other stakeholders and getting feedback from SEBI and RBI. The new and revised changes will come into effect by 2016,” Raghu said.