Say hello to the legend who mentors 30 lucky students to fulfill their dream – a dream that is shared by over a million engineering aspirants every year! We are talking about none other than Mr. Anand Kumar, the founder of Super 30 programme. As a part of the initiative, every year he selects 30 meritorious students from low-income families and tutors them for cracking the prestigious IIT-JEE for free.
Read on to know some interesting excerpts from his life story that makes him a truly inspirational personality.
- Born in Patna (Bihar), Anand belonged to a poor family. During his schooling in a Hindi medium government school, he developed deep interest in mathematics. Owing to his aptitude for math, he submitted research papers to several academic journals. In fact, he got an acceptance to the Cambridge University in 1994, but he could make it due to his financial condition and father’s death.
- In order to sustain his family, he helped his mother in preparing and selling papads. He also started tutoring students to earn some money. During the day time, he continued his work on math. Every weekend he would travel to Varanasi to access foreign journals in the BHU.
- It was finally in 1992 that he started teaching mathematics by setting up his own institute, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM). Although he charged nominal fee for coaching, he found that many students were still unable to afford education. This was a turning point in his life and he started working towards his goal, finally setting up Super 30 in 2002.
- Every year the RMS conducts a competitive test for students of economically backward families. He selects the top 30 among them, gives them JEE training, study material, lodging and food for a year – all free of cost.
- For 14 years Anand Kumar has been coaching students through the Super 30 programme. 422 out of 480 students he has tutored till date have made it to the IITs. All 30 out of 30 students of Super 30 cracked the JEE for 3 consecutive years – 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2017 again, Super 30 achieved 100% success. In JEE 2018, 26 were able to make it.
- The funds for the programme are managed through the tuition fee received from the Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM). Anand Kumar receives no financial aids from the government or any private agency. With his growing popularity, he was offered donations and funds from many national and international organisations, but he always refused them.
- He has been invited by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to talk about his initiative and efforts to mentor the underprivileged section of the society for admission to the IITs.
- The Discovery Channel broadcasted an hour-long documentary dedicated to Anand Kumar and Super 30.
- A movie titled Super 30, starring Hrithik Roshan is being made on the life of Anand Kumar, his struggles and success.
With his intelligence and knowledge, Anand Kumar could easily have settled with a secured job comfortably enjoying his life. Instead he chose to use his talent to nurture the underprivileged children. He is truly a Super Teacher in its essence!