Meet Padma Shri awardee Anand Kumar: From selling papads to teaching IIT aspirants

Anand receiving Padma Shree

He started his journey with only Rs 500 and two students in a tiny rented classroom in Patna, Bihar. A young mathematics enthusiast started teaching students with nothing but passion for numbers and power of education.

Though there was no grand institute, no money and of course no guarantee of success. But it didn’t stop him from pursuing a noble cause.Years ago, what started as a teaching initiative eventually grew into Super 30, a programme that helped economically disadvantaged students prepare for admission to India’s prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).Meet Anand Kumar

Meet Anand Kumar (Facebook)

Meet Anand Kumar whose journey began from a rented classroom costing Rs 500 a month to receiving a Padma Shri in 2023 for his professional achievement which didn’t come to him easily.

He was recoginsed by the Government of India for his contribution to education by conferring the Padma Shri on him in the Literature and Education category.His love for mathematicsAnand was born on January 1, 1973, in Patna, Bihar. He grew up in a family that could not afford the privileges enjoyed by financially comfortable students. His father, Rajendra Prasad, was a clerk in the postal department and he studied at a Hindi-medium government school.

Maths was his love and it became his passion early in life. Even when resources were limited, he continued to study the subject. As a student, he wrote papers on number theory that were published in international mathematical journals.The death of Cambridge dreams

Anand teaching students (Facebook)

For a young man fascinated by mathematics, the possibility of studying at the University of Cambridge was a major opportunity. He was able to get an admission there in the 1990s.

However, life had other plans. During that time, his father died, and the family's financial burden came on him. And with that went away his Cambridge dream because the cost of pursuing higher education was simply too much.Later, to help make ends meet, Kumar helped his mother, Jayanti Devi, sell papads. But he continued to study mathematics. He knew what it meant to have the ability to pursue a dream but lacked the financial means to do so.

And because he himself went through such financial issues, he knew exactly what it meant for a student.From two students to a classroom full of dreamsIn 1992, he established the Ramanujan School of Mathematics as a mathematics club. He was still in college at that time. He started giving free lessons to two students before the growing demand for his teaching led him to charge fees.Then came a student for IIT-JEE preparation but could not afford the fees.

Now this was the turning point which gave Kumar the idea for which he is known worldwide.Formation of Super 30

Super 30 founder

The idea behind Super 30 was simple but ambitious. Each year, 30 meritorious students from economically weak backgrounds were selected for the IIT entrance examinations. Anand would provide them study materials, food and accommodation along with coaching and no fee.For thousands of aspirational students, this was their opportunity.The programme was developed under the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, with Kumar's brother, Pranav Kumar, who looked after the management. His mother also played a part in the family-run effort. She would cook for the students.And the rest is history. For Kumar, the idea was rooted in his own experience.Recognition beyond Bihar and IndiaHis effort earned him national as well as global attention. In 2010, Time magazine included Super 30 in its list of the Best of Asia.

His story reached a wider audience in 2019 with the release of the Hindi film Super 30, starring Hrithik Roshan as Kumar.The journey that began in a Rs 500 rented classroom had taken a much bigger shape. While Kumar's own dream of being a Cambridge student remained unfulfilled, he built a programme around the belief that financial lets define a student’s opportunity.