As the results of this year’s IIT-JEE results appeared on Wednesday morning, a nondescript area in the Bihar capital suddenly burst into celebratory noise emerging from a rather quiet coaching centre, reminding local residents of similar jubilation in the past two years. Super 30, the small coaching centre that trains students from very-low economic backgrounds for the IIT entrance tests free of cost, had done it again.
All the 30 students of Super 30, conceived and managed by mathematician Anand Kumar at his house since 2003, cleared the tough nation-wide IIT-JEE held on April 11, proving once again that limitations imposed by poverty could be overcome when talent and hard work benefit from exceptional training and meaningful philanthropy. Super 30, so named because of the number of students it trains, achieved 100 per cent success for the third consecutive year. “This is the most cherished moment for me and my students and our combined hard work has brought this moment for the third year,” said a joyful Kumar, surrounded by an elated group of successful students and other aspiring students at his Jakkanpur house. Mr Kumar, who had himself failed to go to Cambridge for higher studies due to his poverty, offers free food, lodging and coaching to all the 30 students he takes for a year’s IIT-JEE coaching following a rigorous test. Mr Kumar, who was named in Time magazine’s list of the “Best of Asia in 2010” earlier this month, supports Super 30 from the income he generates from his mathematics coaching centre, Ramanujam School of Mathematics, where students pay.