NATION | Thursday, February 4, 2010 | Email | Print |  | Back
Super 30’s Anand suggests reforms to PM
Amarnath Tewary | Patna
The brain behind Patna-based coaching institute Super 30, Anand Kumar, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on Wednesday and suggested various ways to reform the education system. The Prime Minister had invited Kumar, who has received worldwide acclaim and recognition for his institute’s electrifying performance.
He suggested the Prime Minister focus on the secondary education system first. “If secondary education is weak, students suffer the most. Keeping in view different sets of students, the Ministry of Human Resources Development should lay emphasis on two different syllabi – one, for ordinary students and the other, for gifted students,” said Kumar.
“The syllabus for bright students should provide non-routine challenging problems, so they can develop deep insight into the subjects at an early stage,” he added.
The mathematical wizard put in his second suggestion for a free coaching programme on the lines of Super 30 for talented rural students. “This should not be confined to IIT coaching only and can be applied to various streams. At these Government-run training or coaching programmes, students should be provided the best teaching facilities, with free food and lodging, to shape talent,” Kumar told Singh.
Further, Kumar also pitched in his reforms formulae for the IIT-JEE test.
Deliberating on the technical aspects, Kumar also pointed out that along with IIT JEE results, the extended merit list (EML) of around 50,000 students is also published. “This becomes a tool in the hands of coaching institutes to take gullible students from rural areas for a ride. They showcase EML results as IIT JEE results. Therefore, IIT should release EML results after a few days of IIT JEE results,” he said.
Besides, Kumar said marking of answers in the Optical Response Sheet (ORS) should be allowed to be done by black pen instead of a HB pencil to avoid tampering.
Kumar added that IIT should publish answers of the problems along with their detail solutions late in the evening of the examination day, instead of publication after 15 days.
Last but not the least, the humble mathematician – who has attracted wide attention for his noble ways to provide free coaching to poor rural and financial weaker class students to crack the toughest engineering test of the country – suggested that IIT JEE provide marks to students the same day it publishes results.
“It will help a lot as many students miss out with small margin. They possess the talent but miss the bus due to fierce competition. Invariably, they fall for more coaching,” he said.
Apart from his crisp and sharp suggestions, Kumar also explained his future plans for expansion of his coaching and academic dreams. Anand said that in view of difficulty in findings talented class 10 pass students from poor and rural backgrounds, “I want to run a school with own campus and hostel facility. The school would provide the right impetus to students at the right time through innovative teaching to develop their interest in mathematics and science at an early age.”
Kumar disclosed that he was planning to create a platform of Super 30 Alumni Association where alumni, many of them in the world’s best institutions, help those who have been left out.
“This way Super 30 will grow further and can become a movement for social upliftment,” he said.
Started in 2003, Super-30 has sent 182 students out of a total 210 to IIT. Almost all of them are from poor, underprivileged sections of the society. From this year, Kumar has decided to increase the strength of students from 30 to 60 and give more opportunity to those from other States.
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