The Hindu Business Line : Discover IIT

Though thousands aspire to enter IIT, only hundreds of them probably get there. It’s not just talent, but also big bucks involved in the process. For all those economically weaker IIT aspirants, help is at hand.

Super-30, a Patna-based educational institute, hunts for meritorious talent from economically challenged sections of society and provides them free coaching, food and accommodation. The children of brick kiln workers, rickshaw pullers, roadside vendors, three-wheeler drivers and the like make the class. In the last six years, about 152 students have secured IIT seats through this initiative.

Discovery Channel narrates the success story of Super-30 in an upcoming documentary film. It explores the vision, ambition and dedication of Anand Kumar and also finds out what drove the 36-year-old to start such an institute. The show will also cover Bihar’s Additional Director-General of Police Abhayanand, who teaches Physics at the institute.

Commenting on the one-hour film, Rajiv Bakshi, Director (Marketing & Communication) India, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, says, “‘Super-30’ presents IIT-aspirants’ struggle to make their way to Anand’s select batch and their arduous preparation and dedication to pass the examination. It follows the year-long cycle of the batch as they begin a journey away from the grinding poverty of their village life to the cutting edge of global science and technology.”

Anand Kumar, who considers it a great honour, says, “I had to go to Cambridge University for higher education in Mathematics. But, due to lack of money, I did not get there. I always feel the pain of poverty. Now, my aim is to help needy students as much as possible. My journey has just begun, I have a long way to go.”

The one-hour film will premiere on the channel on March 14 at 9 p.m.