All 30 students of 'Super 30' coaching centre crack IIT-JEE

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All 30 students of Super 30, a free coaching centre in Bihar, have cracked the highly competitive Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) for the third consecutive year, the institute announced Wednesday.

"We are really upbeat and celebrating the 100 per cent success for the third consecutive year as all 30 students have cracked the IIT-JEE this year," Anand Kumar, the institute's director-cum-founder, said.    

Super 30 that helps economically backward students crack the IIT-JEE has been selected by the Time magazine in the list of The Best of Asia 2010.    

The magazine, in its latest issue, said that 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," it said.   

Mohammad Sadab Azam, a student of Super 30, said: "Thanks to Super 30, I cracked the IIT-JEE. Everyone is in a celebratory mood. We are happy."   

Azam, whose father works as a labourer in a village in Gaya district, said that he had never dreamt of cracking the prestigious exam.   

"It was all because of Super 30," he said.    

Anup Kumar, another Super 30 student, said the facilities and encouragement from the faculty made it possible for him to crack the tough exam.   

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

According to Anand, "Hard work, proper guidance and supervision are the secrets of our success."   
"We were sure that the results would be positive as we teach them to eat, sleep, walk and talk only IIT," he said.   

In 2003, the first year of the institute, 18 students made it to the IITs. The number rose to 22 in 2004 and to 26 in 2005. In 2007 and 2006, 28 students made it through ITT-JEE. In 2008, for the first time 30 students cracked the IIT-JEE followed by 2009.   

Anand said the institute is supported by the income generated from his Ramanujam School of Mathematics, which has students who can afford to pay fees.   

The Super 30 was started by Anand along with Bihar's Additional Director General of Police Abhyanand. But two years ago Abhyanand dissociated himself from the institute.   

The success story of Super 30 was telecast by the Discovery Channel last year.   

"Super 30 is an amazing initiative and it needs to be taken to maximum people around the globe," said Christopher Mitchell, whose film for Discovery also bagged the Audience Choice Award at the sixth Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.   

Three years ago, Norika Fujiwara, a former Japanese beauty queen and actress, made a documentary film on Super 30 for its innovative and successful attempt to send poor children to India's top engineering colleges.   
 

Patna's Super-30 among Asia's best: Time Magazine

-Pranava K Chaudhary, TNN

PATNA: In what has come as yet another feather in its cap, Patna maths wizard Anand Kumar's Super-30 initiative has made its way to the list of ‘Best of Asia - 2010', prepared by Time magazine of the US.

"Super-30 centre has a success rate of 100%. What makes that feat even more remarkable is that these (its) students are the poorest of the poor who would otherwise never be able to afford full-time coaching," the mag says in its latest issue.

Under the Super-30 initiative, poor students are coached free of cost to crack JEE, one of the toughest all-India exams, and secure admission to coveted IITs (Indian Institute of Technology). All its 30 students came out with flying colours in 2008 and 2009. Altogether 182 of the 210 students of the Super-30 centre, being run since 2002, have made it to the IITs.

Most of the successful aspirants are wards of marginal farmers, schoolteachers, police constables and grade IV government employees.

"It's an honour; I am excited," Kumar said when asked about the Time recognition. From this year onwards, he said, the intake of aspirants is being increased from 30 to 60. "This fresh international recognition would give me further strength to do more for the poor and downtrodden," Kumar told TOI.Already the Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Punjab governments have decided to adopt the Super-30 model to help poor IIT aspirants of their respective states.

On invitation from these governments, Kumar visited these states recently and provided guidelines to the state education officials and others concerned.

In February, Kumar met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of his plans to launch a talent hunt for IIT aspirants in villages of Bihar. He also made few suggestions to PM regarding reforms in the JEE format.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com