Success story of Bihar's Super 30 to resonate at MIT, Harvard

The prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University have invited Indian mathematician and founder of Super 30, Anand Kumar, to speak on his globally acclaimed effort to mentor students from the underprivileged sections for admission to IIT.

Kumar will speak at MIT Media Lab, an interdisciplinary research laboratory, on September 30, a media release said.

Here are a few things you would like to know about Super 30:

• Anand Kumar, who could not study at Cambridge University years ago due to acute financial constraints, established Super 30 in 2002 to offer free coaching to poor students seeking admission to IITs.

• It hunts for 30 meritorious talents from among the economically backward sections of the society and shapes them for cracking the IIT entrance exams.

• During this program students are provided absolutely free coaching, lodging and food.

• Super 30 is a highly ambitious and innovative educational program running under the banner of "Ramanujan School of Mathematics".

Achievements and international recognition

• In the last eight years, 212 students out of 240 have made to different IITs of the country.

• But, the ‘magic moment' came in 2008, when an astonishing 30 out of 30 students cracked IIT.

• Super 30 had hit the bull's eye by repeating its success again in 2009 and 2010.

• Time Magazine has selected Super 30 in the list of Best of Asia 2010.

• Newsweek Magazine has included it in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

• Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) also decide to understand its rare success.

• Japan's famous actress Norika Fujiwara and its NHK channel have featured the initiative, as has French 24, Discovery Channel and CC TV from China.

• Japan's University of Tokyo has decided to grant scholarships to its students of Bihar's celebrated coaching centre.

• Super star Amitabh Bachchan had also praised Anand Kumar's Super 30 for its marvelous achievement.

• US President Barack Obama's special envoy Rashad Hussain, termed Super 30 as the "best" institute in the country.

• The Government of Bihar honoured Kumar, with its highest award Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar, in November 2010.