Super 30 founder mixes maths with morality

Patna: Renowned mathematician Anand Kumar, who has helped hundreds of underprivileged children crack the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance examination, is now giving students lessons in moral values.

He hopes they’ll fight social evils, such as the dowry system, and stop obscene displays of wealth at social functions.

Kumar is the founder of educational programme Super 30 which has been giving free coaching to talented students from economically backward classes to help them realise their dream of clearing the IIT entrace examinations. In the 10 years since it was set up, Super 30, which was included in the list of Best of Asia 2010 by Time magazine, has helped 263 poor children make it to the IIT.

What compelled Kumar to teach moral values to students, apart from training them for IIT exams was the brutal display of wealth during the marriage functions of former students who had passed out from his free coaching institutee. The unnecessary waste of money by the once-poor students moved Kumar so much so that he decided to teach the new students a lesson or two in moral values as well.

“At the marriage functions of some former students who are doing well after passing out from IITs, I saw unnecessary display of wealth. That’s why I am teaching the students to shun dowry or display of riches at social functions like marriages,” Kumar told the media on Monday.

Stating that even a small initiative from students can make a big difference in the society, Kumar said his prime ambition was to make them “good citizens”.

“They have seen both the worlds — abject poverty and the richness of success. So they can understand my point better,” said Kumar, who had secured admission to Britain’s Cambridge University, but could not study due to severe financial problems in his family.

His appeal has now caught the fancy of the students who have vowed not to take dowry, even though they got big jobs after qualifying for the IITs. “I will not take dowry,” declared Prabab Kumar, son of a farmer who is getting coaching at the free coaching institute, as several others made similar promises.

Super 30 has transformed the lives of hundreds of talented poor children. What is remarkable about this institute is that most of the successful candidates have been from most underprivileged sections of the society – many of them first-generation learners from the rural and extremely poor background with indifferent school education. They get free food, lodging and, above all, free coaching as Kumar supports the entire exercise all by himself though he got a number of offers from private sector as well as the government for financial support to his movement.

It’s for this reason that this institute has received accolades and media coverage from the globe.

Recently, US President Barack Obama’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Rashad Hussain, today visited Super 30 and termed its efforts a big initiative to bring about change. Kumar has also been invited by prominent institutions across the globe to give lectures on his initiatives.

Discovery channel made an hour-long documentary on the institute, while a film made on it by Christopher Michel went on to win the Viewers’ Choice Award in the USA. Two Japanese channels also made films on Super 30, and publications such as Time magazine, Newsweek and Monocle have covered its success.