Super 30 is an Indian educational program started in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

under the banner of Ramanujan School of Mathematics. It was founded by

Anand Kumar Anand Kumar (born 1 January 1973) is an Indian Mathematics educator best known for his Super 30 programme, which he started in Patna, Bihar in 2002, known for coaching underprivileged students for JEE- Main & JEE-Advanced, the entrance exam ...

, a mathematics teacher, and

Abhayanand Abhayanand is an IPS officer and educationalist who, along with Anand Kumar, conceptualised Super 30 to teach poor students to crack IIT JEE. Following his graduation from Patna Science College, Abhayanand was selected as the IPS officer for t ...

, the former D.G.P of Bihar. The program selects 30 talented candidates each year from economically underprivileged sections of Indian society and trains them for the

JEE Jee may refer to: People * Joe Jee (1883–1919), English football player * Joseph Jee (1819–1899), English surgeon * Martha Jee, also known as Martha Wong (1939–), Texas politician * Rupert Jee (born 1956), American entrepreneur and television ...

. The program is portrayed in the 2019 film, ''

Super 30 Super 30 is an Indian educational program started in Patna, India under the banner of Ramanujan School of Mathematics. It was founded by Anand Kumar, a mathematics teacher, and Abhayanand, the former D.G.P of Bihar. The program selects 30 tale ...

'', starring

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. 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 six ...

as Anand Kumar, and his school, have been the subject of several

smear campaigns A smear campaign, also referred to as a smear tactic or simply a smear, is an effort to damage or call into question someone's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda. It makes use of discrediting tactics. It can be applied to individual ...

, some of which have been carried in Indian media sources.

History

In 2002, Abhayanand and Anand Kumar 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 The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is an engineering entrance assessment conducted for admission to various engineering colleges in India. It is constituted by two different examinations: the JEE-Main and the JEE-Advanced. The Joint Seat ...

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

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 terri ...

at the time

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...

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

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

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

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's special envoy

Rashad Hussain Rashad Hussain is an American attorney, diplomat, and professor, who currently serves as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He previously served as associate White House counsel, as U.S. Special Envoy of ...

, 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 Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Husseini, Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian Indian independence movement, independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the ...

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

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

state government in the field of education.

Smear campaigns

On July 23, 2018, an article in

Dainik Jagran ''Dainik Jagran'' ( Hi:दैनिक जागरन , , ) is an Indian Hindi language daily newspaper. It was ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in India by circulation in 2016. In 2019 Quarter 4, according to Indian Readership Survey, Daini ...

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, former cricketer, and the current Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, in office since August 2022. He also serves as the Minister of Health, Minister of Road Construction and Pu ...

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 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol (Lok Sabha constituency), Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he ...

has also spoken in Kumar's favor on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. 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 began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' reported that Kumar and his school are frequently the focus of faked

, and identified the potential sources of the fabricated stories that appeared in the

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 The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is an annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California. Established by Christina Marouda in 2003, as a nonprofit organization devoted to paving the way for a greater appreciation of Indian cinema

'' (IFFLA), it was an instant hit in the US. The

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

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 has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

. * Time Magazine has selected mathematician Anand Kumar's school - Super 30 - in the list of Best of Asia 2220. (May 14, 2010)

Film

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

director

Vikas Bahl Vikas Bahl is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directing and scripting the comedy drama film ''Queen'' (2013). Early life and education Bahl was born and brought up in Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, and his father worked with the Indian Oil Corpor ...

cast

for his film ''

'', which is based on the life and works of Anand Kumar. It theatrically released in India on 12 July 2019 to mixed reviews.

References