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

The Padma Shri is an Indian civilian honour that recognises distinguished contributions in different fields. Anand Kumar received it in 2023 in the Literature and Education category. The award matters because it gave national recognition to his long effort to expand educational opportunity.

Kumar was honoured for his contribution to education through his teaching work and Super 30. His journey began in a Rs 500-a-month rented classroom in Patna, where he taught mathematics. He later developed a programme offering disadvantaged students coaching, study materials, food and accommodation without fees.

The award followed recognition that had already reached beyond Bihar and India. Time magazine included Super 30 among the Best of Asia in 2010, and a 2019 Hindi film brought his story to a wider audience. The Padma Shri added India’s formal recognition to that record of educational work.

Super 30 is an educational programme created to help meritorious students from economically weak backgrounds prepare for admission to India’s prestigious IITs. Its central idea is to remove fees and living costs that can block capable students from pursuing an important educational goal.

Each year, 30 students are selected for free coaching for the IIT entrance examinations. Anand Kumar provides study materials, food and accommodation, while his brother, Pranav Kumar, manages the programme. Their mother, Jayanti Devi, cooks for the students. The programme operates under the Ramanujan School of Mathematics.

Super 30 grew from Kumar’s own experience of having ability but limited money. It also began after a student seeking IIT-JEE preparation could not afford the fees. The programme’s continuing model is simple: select 30 meritorious students each year and support their preparation without charging them.

Super 30 is designed for 30 meritorious students each year. Its scale is therefore selective rather than mass-based. The programme focuses on economically weak students preparing for the IIT entrance examinations, giving a small group intensive support without fees.

Kumar’s teaching began in 1992, when he established the Ramanujan School of Mathematics as a mathematics club. He first gave free lessons to two students in a tiny rented classroom costing Rs 500 a month. As more students sought his teaching, demand led him to charge fees. A student who wanted IIT-JEE preparation but could not afford those fees inspired the Super 30 model.

The classroom initiative became a family-run effort under the Ramanujan School of Mathematics. Kumar taught and coached students, his brother managed the programme, and his mother cooked for them. Recognition grew through Time magazine in 2010 and a film in 2019.

The IITs are India’s Indian Institutes of Technology, a group of prestigious higher-education institutions. Admission is important because it offers students access to highly respected technical education and is treated as a major achievement. The article presents IIT admission as a powerful goal for many aspirational students.

Students must prepare for IIT entrance examinations, commonly linked in the article with the IIT-JEE. Super 30 supports 30 meritorious students from economically weak backgrounds each year. It provides coaching, study materials, food and accommodation, all without fees. This support addresses both academic preparation and basic living needs.

The article connects the importance of IIT admission with Kumar’s own teaching mission. A student once approached him for IIT-JEE preparation but could not afford the fees. That encounter helped create Super 30, which now gives selected students a chance to pursue an opportunity that money might otherwise place beyond reach.

Kumar’s mathematics ability opened a path to the University of Cambridge in the 1990s. He had gained admission, but admission alone did not cover the cost of studying there. His experience shows how financial pressure can overturn an academic opportunity, even when a student has talent and determination.

During that period, his father, Rajendra Prasad, died. The family’s financial burden then fell on Kumar. Because the cost of higher education was too high, he could not take up his Cambridge place. He later helped his mother, Jayanti Devi, sell papads to make ends meet while continuing to study mathematics.

The lost Cambridge opportunity became part of Kumar’s understanding of students facing similar barriers. His own experience helped shape the idea behind Super 30. Instead of allowing money to determine who could prepare for the IIT entrance examinations, he created a programme offering selected students free support.

Free coaching can make IIT preparation accessible to students whose families cannot pay for classes. Study materials provide learning resources, while food and accommodation reduce everyday costs. Together, these forms of support address the practical barriers that can prevent a capable student from preparing fully.

The article gives a direct example. A student came to Kumar for IIT-JEE preparation but could not afford the fees. Kumar responded by creating Super 30, which selects 30 meritorious students from economically weak backgrounds. They receive coaching, materials, food and accommodation without paying.

This model matters because it links academic ability with sustained support rather than family income. The article does not provide specific examination results for the programme, but it records that Super 30 gained national and global attention. Its continuing purpose is to give aspirational students an opportunity that financial hardship might otherwise remove.

A student may have ability and motivation but still lack the money needed to turn them into an educational opportunity. Fees, study materials and living costs can determine whether a student can prepare consistently. Financial circumstances can therefore shape access before academic performance is even tested.

Kumar experienced this personally. He gained admission to Cambridge but could not afford to study there after his father’s death left him carrying the family’s financial burden. He helped his mother sell papads and continued studying mathematics. Later, an IIT-JEE student could not afford Kumar’s fees, prompting the idea for Super 30.

Super 30 responds by providing selected students with coaching, materials, food and accommodation at no cost. The article presents this as a way to prevent finances from defining opportunity. Its model remains focused on 30 economically disadvantaged, meritorious students each year, supported through the Ramanujan School of Mathematics.