The founder of 'Super 30' initiative that provides free coaching to rural youths to crack IIT entrance, on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and requested him to allow poor students three chances to appear in the test instead of two.
Anand Kumar told Dr Singh that the 'Super 30' initiative would increase its intake from 30 to 60 from the coming year and admit students from all states.
"I said that for poor and rural students, the number of attempts should be at least three, for they are invariably late starters and have a distinct disadvantage. The prime minister assured me that the government will look into it," Kumar said after the meeting.
At present, the IITs are providing two chances to all types of students to crack the test for admission into the elite institutes.
Kumar also suggested that the government should start providing coaching programmes on the lines of 'Super 30' by identifying talented students from rural base.
The 'Super 30' programme is a popular initiative conducted by Kumar for last seven years in Bihar and Jharkhand. He also suggested starting two different syllabi for students at secondary level -- one for ordinary students and another for the extra-ordinary and talented students. The syllabus for the bright students should provide non-routine challanging problems, so that they could develop deep insight into the subjects at an early stage, he said.
Kumar said the 'Super 30' initiative would be expanded to help students from all states take advantage of the programme.
About 30 students, selected through a test, are given special coaching free of cost by the 'Super 30' every year. About 182 students, who underwent training at Super 30, have cracked the IIT entrance in the last seven years.
Kumar told the prime minister that he wants to start a school, which would provide innovative teaching to children to develop their interest in mathematics and science subjects at an early stage. The successful students of 'Super 30' will form an alumni association to work on rural development.
During the 15-minute long meeting, Kumar also suggested a number of changes in the IIT entrance system. He favoured modification in the pattern in the entrance by putting more conceptual and analytical questions.
Kumar said IITs should release the extended merit list few days after the declaration of IIT-JEE results so that the coaching centres cannot mislead students by making false claims about success of students.
He also said that the IITs should provide marks to students the same day it publishes the results.
Image: Super-30 founder Anand Kumar teaching IIT aspirants
