Anand Kumar

The messiah of engineering entrance exams | Award-Winning Mathematician | The Mind behind Super30

About

Anand Kumar is an educator and the founder of Super30, a program which coaches underprivileged students for IIT-JEE. In the last 15 years, he has coached 450 students, of which 396 made it to IITs.

He was internationally recognized, and the Discovery Channel even made a documentary on his work in 2009. He has also been featured in programs by BBC. In 2011, in a Bollywood film, 'Aarakshan', Amitabh Bacchan's character was inspired by Anand Kumar and his Super30. He also appeared on the popular quiz show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'.

Anand's biography- 'Super30: Anand Kumar', is written by Biju Mathew, a Canadian psychiatrist. In 2019, a biopic on Anand Kumar directed by Vikas Bahl, starring Hritik Roshan was released; the movie was a tremendous success.

The Journey to Super30

Anand comes from a modest background, his father was a post office clerk in Bihar. Following the demise of his father, Anand had to work to make ends meet.

Anand started a small business from home, where he tutored students in maths to earn extra cash. In 1992, he rented a room for INR 500 a month and started his coaching centre, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics (RSM), where he taught mathematics to the students.

In 2002, an underprivileged student came to him who could not attend IIT entrance coaching due to poverty; this motivated Anand to start the Super30 program.

Awards and Accomplishments

In 2017, Anand was honoured with the ‘Rashtriya Bal Kalyan Award’ by the then President of India. He was also given the top award of the Bihar government, ‘Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar’, in 2010.

Time magazine included Super30 in the list ‘Best of Asia 2010’. In the subsequent year, he was named by the UK-based magazine Monocle among the list of 20 pioneering world teachers.

His name made it to the Limca Book of World Records for free coaching to the underprivileged. Anand Kumar has been featured in many newspapers, magazines, and shows like The New York Times and Time Magazine.

Why Anand Kumar?

Anand has had the privilege to be invited to a few of the top global universities, including Harvard, Stanford and University of British Columbia, to speak about his Super30 programme and what keeps him motivated to continue doing this noble work.