Super 30 is an Indian educational programme started in

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

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under the banner of Ramanujan School of Mathematics. It was founded by Anand Kumar, a mathematics teacher. The programme selects 30 talented candidates each year from economically underprivileged sections of Indian society and trains them for the JEE. The programme is portrayed in the 2019 film, '' Super 30'', starring

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including si ...

as Anand Kumar, and his school, have been the subject of several smear campaigns, some of which have been carried in Indian media sources.

History

In 2002, Anand Kumar and Abhayanand started Super 30 with the plan to select 30 talented students from economically impoverished sections who could not afford IIT coaching. These 30 students were then prepared to pass IIT-JEE examinations. Anand Kumar's mother, Jayanti Devi, volunteered to cook for the students while Anand Kumar, Abhayanand, and other teachers tutored them. The students were also provided study materials and lodging for a year free of cost. In the first year of the coaching, 18 out of 30 students made it to IIT. The following year, application numbers soared due to the popularity of the program and written examination was conducted to select 30 students. In 2004, 22 out of 30 students qualified for IIT-JEE, increasing the popularity of the program which attracted even more applications. In 2005, 26 out of 30 students cleared the IIT-JEE exam, while 28 in 2006 - this despite the fact that IIT changed the examination structure. In appreciation of their efforts, Bihar

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

at the time

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

congratulated the students with a cash prize of ₹50,000 each. The following year 28 more students cleared the IIT-JEE, and in 2008, all of the Super 30 students cleared the IIT-JEE, after which Abhayanand quit Super 30 saying "the experiment is over." Some of Kumar's former students joined as Super 30 teachers and in 2009 and 2010 all 30 students again qualified the IIT JEE exams. In subsequent years the success rates from the 30 students were: 2011 (24 passed), 2012 (27 passed), 2013 (28 passed), 2014 (27 passed), 2015 (25 passed), and in 2016 (28 passed). In 2017, all Super 30 candidates made it to the IIT-JEE. In 2018, 26 of the 30 students cleared the exam.

Awards and recognition

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'' included Super 30 in its list of The Best of Asia 2010. The organization also received praise from

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's special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the "best" institute in the country. ''

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'' included Super 30 in its list of ''Four Most Innovative Schools in the World''. Anand Kumar was awarded the Maulana

Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...

Shiksha Puraskar in November 2010, the highest award given by the

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state government in the field of education.

Smear campaigns

On 23 July 2018, an article in Dainik Jagran cited former Super 30 students who said that only three students from the program had passed the IIT JEE exam that year, contrary to Kumar's claim that 26 had passed. The report also claimed that students who sought to enroll in Super 30 were pushed to enroll in another coaching center called Ramanujan Institute of Mathematics, a for-profit coaching institute, on the pretext that Kumar would coach them if they performed well. Furthermore, the article alleged that by asking IIT aspirants to enroll in Ramanuj Institute, Kumar made over ₹1 crore annually. Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and Current Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly

Tejashwi Yadav Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (born 9 November 1989) is an Indian politician and former professional cricketer who served for two terms as the deputy chief minister of Bihar. He is the son of former chief ministers of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabr ...

spoke in favor of Anand Kumar and said that "propaganda is being run in media influenced by feudal mindset to discredit and defame Anand Kumar." Former Union Cabinet Minister

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 15 July 1946) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliament ...

has also spoken in Kumar's favor on

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. In August 2018, ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' reported that Kumar and his school are frequently the focus of faked smear campaigns, and identified the potential sources of the fabricated stories that appeared in the Dainik Jagran newspaper in July.

In popular culture

* A 60-minute film ''digibeta'' on Super 30, directed by Christopher Mitchell, was screened at the '' Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles'' (IFFLA), it was an instant hit in the US. The

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also showed this film on Super 30 in March 2009. * A video series on Super 30 was broadcast in the popular Canadian TV series

Witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

. * Time Magazine has selected mathematician Anand Kumar's school - Super 30 - in the list of Best of Asia 2010. (14 May 2010)

Film

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

director

Vikas Bahl Vikas Bahl is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directing Chillar Party (2011), ''Queen (2013 film), Queen'' (2013), ''Super 30 (film), Super 30'' (2019), and ''Shaitaan (2024 film), Shaitaan'' (2024). Early life and education Bahl was born a ...

cast

for his film '' Super 30'', which is based on the life and works of Anand Kumar. It theatrically released in India on 12 July 2019 to positive reviews.

References