“Super 30” One Man’s vision builds aspirations for the lower-income students to walk the IIT path.

The Program that stimulates talent in India

Entering the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is a very difficult process. Students are required to take a rigorous exam. In this test, they demonstrate their skills and abilities. For low-income students, admission to IIT is especially difficult. The asymmetries between upper-middle-class families and poor families are manifested in the profound differences in the quality of education and in the results obtained in admission tests. Mathematician Anand Kumar offers a response to this situation in what he has called the Super 30 Program.

The Super 30 Program was founded in Patna India in 2002. The program takes place at the headquarters of the Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM) headed by Professor Anand Kumar. This innovative tutoring program convenes low-income students to take the selection test during the month of May each year. The top 30 students enter the select group of Super 30. The selected students spend one year as scholars under the tutelage of Professor Kumar. During that year the students are provided with food, lodging, and an intensive academic levelling program.

Super 30 program that reduces asymmetries

The record of the Super 30 admitted to the IITs reaches 391 students. Surprisingly, the first three years of the program registered 100% admission to the IITs. In subsequent years the figure has remained above the 28 admissions per year, with the exception of 2012 with 24 admissions and 2015 with 25 admissions. Low-income students who enter the Super 30 make a qualitative leap in their levels of academic competitiveness.