Patna: Super 30 founder and noted mathematician Anand Kumar told a gathering at Cambridge University on Tuesday that education is the best bet to beat poverty and help build an egalitarian society by giving the deserving their due and rewarding merit. Speaking at the UK-Asia Summit organised at Cambridge University, where he once dreamt of studying but could not make it due to poverty, Anand said it was an occasion that had overwhelmed him, as it had brought back the old memories as a young student aspiring to be there.

"Today, if I am here, only because of education. Education has the power to usher in a silent revolution and bring about generational change. It is the best bet to beat poverty and help build an egalitarian society by giving the deserving their due and rewarding merit," he told the
gathering, a Super 30 statement.

Anand also shared his experiences with the making of the movie that revolves round his pioneering initiative in helping students from deprived class crack IIT examination. He said film set to be released on July 12, was not just a biopic on a simple man like him, but it roached a much larger issue. "In the end, the difference between the privileged and underprivileged is only of opportunity. If all get equal opportunity to quality education, India will move ahead faster, he said, citing the examples of his students from modest background working in US firms.

Anand said that Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan had shown remarkable character playing his role as a teacher. and director Vikas Bahl took care of the minutest of details to capture the essence, visiting remote villages to talk to the family members of the students to get a feel of the real-life situation.

Anand said that he was from Bihar, a state of India that was once known for its glorious tradition in the field of education with institutions like Nalanda University and Vikramshila, but later slipped at the bottom of the ladder on virtually all parameters of human index.

"Education is the way forward to turn the tide and efforts are on in that direction. If my initiative can work as an inspiration for some, it will make my life meaningful," he added.

Giving examples of several students who overcame adversities to scrip success stories by dint of their sheer passion to excel and hard work at Super 30, Anand dwelt on the nearly two-decade old journey of Super 30, how the pangs of poverty made him start the initiative and the problems that he had to face along the way.

Super 30 has so far helped nearly 540 students from the underprivileged sections of the society successfully chase the IIT dream with unmatched passion. It has ushered in a silent social revolution through mainstreaming of children belonging to the underprivileged sections of the society by empowering them with year-long residential mentoring for admission to IITs.

This year too, 18 of its students have cracked Jee Advance to qualify for admission in different IITs. Started in 2002, meritorious wards of rickshaw puller, farm labourer, housemaid and other deprived sections of society are provided free fooding, lodging and education to
help them make big in life by clearing admission test for IIT.

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