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SUPER 30
Here, I am going to include a remarkable story for those who haven’t heard stories of hard work done day in and day out to uplift talent from economical weaker section. Anand Kumar, an Indian mathematician and columnist brought up in Patna, Bihar, was featured in Time Magazine on May 13, 2010 for his stupendous work. Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of it.
Being a post office clerk’s son, he studied in Hindi medium government school where he gained his deep interest in mathematics. During graduation, he submitted papers on number theory.
Although Anand gained admission to Cambridge University, he could not peruse studies there because of his father’s death and his monetary situation. Kumar studied mathematics during the day and sold papads [a crisp Indian flatbread] in the evening with his mother to earn bread and butter for his family. To earn extra money, he mentored students in math.
Since Patna University library did not have foreign journals, to supplement his own study, he would travel every weekend on a six-hour train journey to Varanasi, where his younger brother, learning violin under [famed Indian violinist] N. Rajam, had a hostel room. Thus, he would spend Saturday and Sunday at the Central Library, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and return to Patna on Monday morning.
According to an article in Time magazine, every year, some 230,000 students take the notoriously difficult exam for a spot in one of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, but only 5,000 pass. In 2009, 30 of them came from one coaching center in Patna, capital of the impoverished north Indian state of Bihar. That may not seem like many, but for the Super 30 center, it’s a pass rate of 100%. What makes that feat even more remarkable is that these students are the poorest of the poor, who would otherwise never be able to afford full-time coaching.
Super 30’s founder, local mathematician Anand Kumar—who himself missed a chance to study at Cambridge because he didn’t have enough money—gives full scholarships, including room, board and travel, to every batch of 30 students he accepts. They pass a competitive test just to get into Super 30 and then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour days. Since 2003, 182 of a total 210 students have made it to one of the institutes.
For them, it’s more than just an academic accomplishment. "People who never acknowledged us before started smiling and nodding at us,” says Rahul, the son of a print worker and a successful Super 30 alumnus. The project has even won the notice of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who met with Kumar in February to hear his plan to launch a national program for talented rural children. In a country that has struggled to offer those students even basic education, Super 30 is an example of what’s possible when human potential is tapped. It’s a lesson Kumar teaches his students every day. "Education is their only weapon,” he says, "to rid themselves of poverty and social exploitation.”
Anand’s work is now well received from all over the world. USA’s president obama read about Anand in TIME magazine and sent a special envoy to check the work done by him and offered all the assistance which Anand didn’t accept.
Discovery Channel did broadcast a one-hour-long program on Super 30.