Super 30 program

 Anand Kumar, best known for his Super 30 programme, has been honoured by the British Columbia for his contribution in the field of education. For the last 14 years, Kumar has been tutoring students from underprivileged sections for IIT-JEE entrance examinations. He has been tutoring them free of cost. He has also been invited to talk at IIM Ahmedabad, British Columbia, Tokyo University, Stanford University and IITs. It is also said that he had helped Amitabh Bachchan in preparing for his role in Aarakshan

Super 30 program

 Kumar started, which trains 30 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) aspirants to crack its entrance test.

Patna-based Kumar is said to have developed an interest in mathematics during his years in a Hindi medium government school. He was accepted into the Cambridge University in 1994, but could not take up the opportunity because of financial restraints. He began selling papads in the evening with his mother to help run the household. He would also give tuition classes to earn extra money. Every weekend, he would travel to Varanasi in order to gain access to foreign journals at the Benaras Hindu University (BHU).

In 1992, he set up the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, where he initially charged a nominal fee in return for coaching students who would appear for competitive exams. He found that even though the fee was quite low, many students could not afford it, and this prompted him to start Super 30 in 2002. The candidates who are part of this programme are meritorious students who belong to low-income families. They are given training, lodging and food prepared by Kumar's mother — all free of cost.

The Super 30 programme gained attention because of its success rate; thus far, 396 of 450 total candidates have been able to crack the IIT entrance test. In 2017 itself, Kumar was able to achieve 100 percent results, as all 30 candidates got admission into the prestigious institutes. This has happened three times in the past.

Reports state that although national and international organisations have offered funding and donations for Super 30's students, but Kumar has declined these offers and continues to fund the programme using the fees he receives from the Ramanujan School of Mathematics. Anand Kumar has been invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to talk about his mentoring strategy.

I have tried to gather few unknown facts about the 42 year-old man who has dedicated his life to the field of teaching.

1. He was born in Patna and attended a Hindi-medium school where he developed an interest in Mathematics.

2. He had secured a place at the Cambridge University but because of his financial condition, he could not take admission.

3. To support the family, his mother had started selling papads. Kumar used to assist her in the evening.

4. Just to read foreign journals, he used to travel to Varanasi on Fridays and study in the Central Library, BHU and return to Patna on Monday mornings.

5. He started his own institute, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics in 1992. In three years, the crowd of students grew from two students to 500.

6. It is said that a poor student who wanted to take coaching for IIT-JEE came to him but had no money to pay. It was then the idea for Super 30 came to him.

7. Every year, his institute, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics conducts a test to select top 30 students from economically backward sections. He tutors and provides them accomodation for a year.

8. His mother cooks for the students and his brother takes care of the management.

9. Kumar has been offered financial help from many private and government colleges but he has refused all of them.

10. In 2009, Discovery Channel had featured a programme on Super 30. The New York Times has also written about Anand Kumar.