Anand Kumar- Super 30 IIT-JEE Coaching

Anand Kumar's free coaching centre Super 30, all of whose students have cracked the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE 2010) for the third consecutive year, has drawn the attention of the international media.The institute selects talented students from poor families and provides them with free coaching, food and accommodation.

If Super 30 has become an architect for the budding poor talents, it is not without a reason. Fascinated by mathematics since early childhood, Anand always dreamt of becoming a mathematician. He started showing
sparks of brilliance since early days. His love for mathematics came to fore in 1992, when he formed a Mathematics Club, ‘Ramanujam School of Mathematics’, while he was still in graduation. His mathematical bent of mind was spotted by renowned teachers, who provided him encouragement. Under the guidance of his mentor and guru, Devi Prasad Verma, then the Head, Department of Mathematics, Patna Science College, Anand started a training programme for mathematics lovers. It was a free programme, which anybody with interest in Mathematics could join. As months rolled by, Anand contributed several problems and papers on Mathematics to various national and international journals, magazines and newspapers.

In 1994, Anand got an opportunity to pursue higher education in Cambridge University, but his poor financial health came in the way. Having witnessed extreme financial hardship since childhood, he felt the pangs of poverty so much that he decided to do something for the poor students, who invariably fade away without getting right opportunities.This led to the birth of new form of ‘Ramanujam School of Mathematics’. Here he trained a small group of students for various competitive examinations at a very nominal fee. For those who were extremely poor and were in no position to pay even the small amount, money was never a constraint. They just did not have to pay anything.After some time, Anand decided to shape his programme seriously to cater to the poor, but meritorious students more significantly. He called his brother Pranav Kumar, a talented violinist, from Mumbai and planned to start the innovative Super 30 programme

Pranav Kumar helped Anand earlier also, but now he was directly involved. He was entrusted with the responsibility of managing Super 30. After a thorough screening, 30 poor, but talented students were shortlisted for the Super 30. Initially, making all arrangements for 30 students,was not so easy, but Anand’s family extended all help in his endeavour. Anand generated finances by tutoring students of other schools, while his mother, Jayanti Devi, cooked food for the students. For the students, there was only one goal – to study hard.What followed next was rigorous training of the students, and the results came as a big surprise in the very first year.

It motivated Anand for put in more and more effort along with his team of dedicated teachers.In the last seven years, 182 students out of 210 have made to different IITs of the country. In 2003, when Super 30 started its journey, 18 out of 30 students competed. The very next year, the number jumped to 22. In 2005, it improved further to 26. Continuing the trend, 28 students made it in 2006 and 2007. However, the ‘magic moment’came in 2008, when the result was an astonishing 30 out of 30. Super 30 had hit the bull’s eye. It was ‘a dream come true’ for Anand and his team. Super 30 has done it again in 2009. It has been 30 out of 30 for the second year in succession. It was the result of dedicated effort of a committed group of teachers, led by Anand. A senior police officer, Abhyanand, who is now involved with other social activities, also played his part in motivating the students by finding some time off his busy schedule. The role of a group of old students of Super 30 was also vital. Amit Kumar and Praveen Kumar contributed in running regular classes for
variou subjects.

Courtesy: http://www.super30.org

Patna, (IANS) With visits from foreign media teams and extensive features written about it, Bihar's free coaching centre Super 30, all of whose students have cracked the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) for the third consecutive year, has drawn the attention of the international media.

The institute selects talented students from poor families and provides them with free coaching, food and accommodation.

Anand Kumar, the institute's director-cum-founder, told IANS that the latest to cover the school are the Chinese and French media.

'A team from France's official TV Channel, French 24, came to Patna Monday to cover Super 30 and its students. The team shot extensively at different locations all day,' he said Tuesday.

China'a number one news agency Xinhua carried a detailed story on Super 30 and how Kumar and his team shapes students.

Rhythm Monthly, a popular Chinese magazine, also did an extensive feature on Super 30. Its team recently visited the institute and Kumar's home. Its latest issue has a detailed feature with several photographs of Super 30 hostel, classroom and Kumar's profile.

Kumar said he was happy that Super 30 was getting international coverage for its work.

He runs the Ramanuja School of Mathematics in Patna, some profit of which he uses to run Super 30.

Last month, the institute was selected by the Time magazine in the list of the Best of Asia 2010. It was described as the Best Cram School in its list.

Every year, about 230,000 students take the exam for a seat in the IITs but only 5,000 grab it.

'Last year, 30 of them came from one coaching centre in Patna, capital of the impoverished north Indian state of Bihar. That may not seem like many, but for the Super 30 centre it's a pass rate of 100 percent,' the magazine said in its latest issue.

Earlier, Discovery Channel had made a one-hour documentary on Super 30.

Two of Japan's frontline channels also made films on Kumar and his pioneering initiative. One of the films on Super 30, made by British producer Christopher Mitchell, also won the Viewers' Choice Award at a film festival in Los Angeles.

Kumar, who himself missed a chance to study at Cambridge because he didn't have enough money, gives full scholarships, including room and travel, to every batch of 30 students. They pass a competitive test just to get into Super 30, and then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day.

The institute was started by Kumar along with Bihar's Additional Director-General of Police Abhayanand in 2002 in Patna. But two years ago, Abhayanand dissociated himself from the institute.

- Courtesy IANS / Yahoo News