Inspiration
Churning out IITians from the unlikeliest of the lot
For the past 14 years, Anand Kumar a mathematician has been running the Super 30 programme for the underprivileged children of Patna. He provides them with one year of boarding, food and training to crack the IIT-JEE exams. His success rate is more than 90%.
IIT-JEE is an industry in itself in India, with whole towns dedicated to preparing students for one of the most difficult entrance test in the world. Then there is the network of so called IIT-JEE entrance classes across the country. Needless to say, it seems that the elite entrance test maybe for a few who can afford the highly competitive coaching classes, the books, the frequent internal tests and other paraphernalia.
But if you have heard about the Super 30 program, you would know that there is a lone ranger who is trying to give the underprivileged a fair shot at this extremely competitive and difficult exam. He is Anand Kumar, a mathematician and a globally known figure from Patna. For the past 14 years, under his Super 30 programme he has been tutoring the underprivileged children of Patna for the IIT-JEE entrance exams free of cost.
Started under the name of ‘Ramanujan school of Mathematics’ in 2002, Anand Kumar came up with the idea of Super 30, where he would select 30 deserving students from financially weak sections of the society and hone their skills to help them crack the IIT-JEE. Anand Kumar's Mother, Jayanti Devi cooked for the students while Anand tutored them, and also provided study materials and lodging for a year.
In the first year of the programme, 18 out of the 30 students made it to IIT. The 2004 batch saw 22 out of 30 students qualified for IIT JEE and the programmed got a strong response. The 2005 batch saw a higher number of students making it to the IIT at 26 out of 30 students. During 2006, despite the changed examination pattern 28 out of the Super 30 students had cleared the IIT JEE. This achievement caught the eye of the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who felicitated the students with a cash prize of Rupees 50,000 each. The next year 28 more students achieved the IIT dream and finally in 2008, all of the Super 30 cleared the IIT JEE.
Following the massive popularity and documented success of Super 30, many individuals and institutions came forward to provide financial assistance to the Super 30 programme in the form of better infrastructure, increased student accommodation etc. However, the team declined external assistance and continued to restrict the number of students to 30. The program was still being funded only by the private coaching classes given by Anand Kumar.
Success has emboldened Anand Kumar and now he wants to take his formula online and offer coaching for more than just IIT entrance exams — and the funds thus raised would be used to help even more bright aspirants coming from families with financial constraints.
Kumar and his crack team of 5 plan to offer online tutorials to school students (class VI onwards), besides those preparing for Olympiad tests and other competitive examinations with each lecture costing a mere ₹ 1.
Even the Super 30 Online will follow suit next year, said Kumar. "You do not need to go to Kota anymore, and can pay ₹ 1 per lecture. I expect lakhs to log on to our portal," said Kumar.
The online project is currently being worked upon with the help of coaches and 6 interns from the IITs of Delhi, Jodhupur and Mandi, and from Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra. Business developers from Gujarat are also participating in the project.