Super 30 founder to share dais with Blair, others

Patna: Anand Kumar, the founder of Bihar's famous Super 30 coaching
centre, will share the dais with former British prime minister Tony
Blair, Nobel winner Albert Fert and other global greats at a
conference in the UAE next week.

"I will share the platform with Tony Blair, Albert Fert, Irina Bokova,
Raila Odinga and others in the last week of March in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE)," Kumar told the sources on Friday.

He has been invited by the UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology, which
is organizing the mega conference of students, Education Without
Borders, from March 28-31.

The event will feature a host of dignitaries and 3,700 student
delegates from 129 countries. Besides Kumar, Blair and physicist Fert,
Unesco head Irina Bokova and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga are
among the other speakers.

Kumar will speak on his experiences and how education could be the
biggest tool for social change. His Super 30 has helped many students
from underprivileged sections of society enter the prestigious Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs).

"I am happy that people want to listen to me for inspiration. I will
keep trying to do something in future that would inspire people to do
better," he added.

Kumar, who started the Ramanujam School of Mathematics in 1992,
founded the Super 30 in 2002.

In the last eight years, the novel initiative has helped 212 students
clear the IIT entrance test. During the last three years, all the 30
students of the institute made it to the IITs, drawing worldwide
attention.

Most of the successful candidates have come from the most
underprivileged sections of society. They are provided free food,
lodging and free coaching.

The students have to pass a competitive test to get into Super 30 and
then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day, Kumar
said.

Last year Anand shared his experience with Hollywood producer and
director James Cameron at a conference in the township of Lavasa in
Maharashtra. IANS