Who is Anand Kumar?
Anand Kumar is an Indian mathematician, educationalist and a columnist for various national and international mathematical journals and magazines.
What is Super 30?
He is best known for his Super 30 programme, which he started in Patna, Bihar in 2002. In this programme, Anand coaches economically backward students for JEE, the entrance examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). By 2013, 281 of the 330 had made it to IITs. He is also referred to as the “Super 30s Man” or the “Super Teacher”.
Hundreds of students mentored by him have made it to IITs so far and most of his students are from poor families and are first-generation learners.
What Anand Kumar has done through Super 30 is bring about a generational change in those families and become an inspiration for the economically backward people to pursue education to ward off poverty. It has underlined the power of education to transform lives.
Achievements so far…
Anand Kumar has over 200K fans on his Facebook page. He has become a revered name in the world of IIT JEE through the years.
Anand Kumar has many awards and honours under his belt. The major ones are “S. Ramanujan award (2010), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar (Nov. 2010)”. Super 30 was named in Time magazine’s list of Best of Asia in 2010.
On November 8, 2018, Anand Kumar was honoured with the Global Education Award 2018 by Malabar Gold & Diamonds in Dubai. His efforts in the field of education are considered “pioneering”.
Kumar was awarded the S. Ramanujan Award for 2010 by the Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) in July 2010.
In March 2009, Discovery Channel broadcasted a one-hour-long programme on Super 30, and half a page was devoted to Kumar in The New York Times.
Kumar has also been featured in programmes by the BBC. Kumar is in the Limca Book of Records (2009) for his contribution in helping poor students pass the IIT-JEE by providing them with free coaching.
In fact, Anand Kumar is recognized not just in India but in universities and countries abroad as well. He has been invited by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to speak on his globally acclaimed effort to mentor students from the underprivileged sections for admission to IIT.
It’s amazing to see how a man could create something so small and grow it to a level and esteem that it has now. His endeavour not only gives a dedicated platform for the potential talent of India but does it in an ethical and social manner.
