It’s a Super hit

The achievements of Super 30, a free coaching institute in Patna for underprivileged IIT aspirants, put even success into the shade. Floated five years ago, this initiative of two crusaders — maths wizard Anand Kumar and police official Abhayanand — has been coming up trumps in making needy students crack the prestigious exam. Ambarish Datta on the model institute and its champions, who’ve taken it upon themselves to do their bit for society

Success repeats itself: Last year, too, 28 students of Super 30 qualified in the exam. Here are three of the winners. Photo by Manish Sinha

At a time when reservation in premier institutions of the country is considered as the only available option for the upward mobility of the socially backward, the Super 30 experiment stands out as an exception.

Bihar’s Super 30, a unique coaching institute in Patna, has seen 28 of its 30 students qualify the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE), 2007. The institute has already gained national and international fame for its attempts to uplift talented children from poor sections of society regardless of their caste background.

Pranav Prince, who is a top ranker among the Super 30 aspirants this year, has secured all-India rank 162. His mother works as a tailor to support the family. Another student Raju, who cracked the prestigious IIT exam from Super 30, is the son of a daily labourer.

Out of the 30, the two Dalit students — Alok Kumar and Azad Kumar — who couldn’t make the grade are likely to make it when the preparatory results of SC/ST candidates come out.

One of the Super 30 batch: Anupam Kumar, son of a three-wheeler driver

But it was not possible for these socially and economically backward students to dream of IIT without Anand Kumar, the director of Ramanujan School of Mathematics.

Talking to The Tribune at his Jakhanpur residence, Anand Kumar recounted how he had missed the opportunity to do his PhD in Cambridge University in 1994 simply because he could not arrange the passage money.

Anand, BA (Hons) in mathematics, has guided 122 students, all socially underprivileged, to crack IIT entrance tests in the last five years from his Super 30 institute located at Nayatola in Kumrahar, Patna. The total number of students in the last five years was 150. Only 28 could not make it.

Anand recalled, "I had just completed graduation in mathematics in 1994 when my father expired suddenly. We were in deep distress. My mother at that time used to prepare papad and I would sell these from door to door. As a result, I could neither continue my studies nor manage the money to go to Cambridge."

Incidentally, at the age of 22, Anand was known as a "wizard" in mathematics: his papers were published in reputed journals of the US and the UK.

Anand expresses his gratitude to the Resident Editor of Times of India (1994-97) in Patna, Uttam Sengupta, who had allowed him to write a weekly column on challenging problems in mathematics to help him tide over his family’s financial crisis resulting out of his father’s untimely death.

This weekly column brought him closer to Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP) Abhayanand, who was then DIG.

Anand said, "One day I received a phone call from Abhayanand, who showed interest in my column. He came to meet me at my residence. Since then, we have been good friends."

Besides selling papad and writing a column, Anand started a coaching institute — Ramanujan School of Mathematics — in 1995.

By 2000, the institute became popular with a good number of students clearing IIT-JEE and other tests. All these students were from well-to-do families, Anand declared. The following year, he discussed the idea of "Super 30" with Abhayanand.

Anand explained, "Being a boy from a socially and economically backward class, I wanted to provide a platform for those students who could not make it to premier institutes because of economic hardship."

Both Anand and Abhayanand decided to begin Super 30 in 2002 by selecting 30 meritorious students, cutting across caste and religion, and train them under one roof for eight months between September and April for IIT-JEE entrance examinations.

Super 30 has been inviting applications from poor and downtrodden students in August every year since 2002. After shortlisting the names, a test is conducted to select the "best 30". The institute is run by the income Anand generates from his Ramanujan School of Mathematics.

The number of successful candidates from Super 30 has been steadily rising since 2003. While 18 made it to the various IITs from its first batch in 2003, 22 students made it in 2004. The number increased to 26 in 2005 and 28 in 2006.

Taking some time off from his hectic official schedule, ADGP Abhayanand has been teaching physics free of cost to the "Super 30" students in Anand’s institute.

"After I helped my two sons clear the IIT exam, I thought of utilising my free time and give something back to society," admitted Abhayanand.

The cost of eating, studying and living under one roof for eight months comes to around Rs 5 lakh. "I spend a portion of the money I earn from affluent students who come to study at Ramanujan School of Mathematics for the impoverished students in Super 30," Anand explained.

Both Abhayanand and Anand asserted that "it is merit and only merit which is the prime consideration, besides economic backwardness, to get into the list of the Super 30 coaching institute".

That the reputation and name of Super 30 has spread across the seas was apparent when a six-member Japanese media team arrived in Patna in June to make a documentary on the institute.

Impressed by the astonishing success rate of Super 30, the team stayed in the city for several days to interview the students and their mentors, as well as to study the teaching methodology used by the institute that nearly guarantees success in the IIT entrance test.

Yoichi Itoh, renowned economist attached with the Sumitomo Trust Bank and Institute, who was part of the six-member film crew, had admitted that he was pleasantly surprised by the success of the students most of whom come from a not-so-privileged background. "We read about the so-called Super 30 in the English media in Japan and couldn’t help but wonder how these students, under such gruelling conditions, managed to outperform other students from other places," Itoh said.

The only demand of Anand and Abhayanand from the successful candidates of Super 30 is that when they pass out of IITs and settle in good jobs, they should do something for poor students.