The founder of Super 30 – Bihar’s well acclaimed free coaching centre for Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT) aspirants, Anand Kumar has blamed the IIT exam panel for the poor quality of students. The reaction comes after Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy has remarked that the quality of students in the premier technical institutes is degrading due to coaching institutes.Blaming it on the joint entrance examination (JEE) committee, Kumar said, “The IITs should frame questions in such a manner that the real talent reaches there. The IITs should try to bring in greater transparency and have a proper examination pattern. Students went to private coaching institutes simply because they don't find the school education system up to the mark for the JEE. “
"It is because of the lack of knowledge about the IITs' pattern that the students have to run around the coaching institutes to acquire that little bit extra, which makes the ultimate difference," he said.
Kumar added that the students needed to be appreciated, rather than criticised. It is their hard work that makes them crack arguably the toughest competition.
"Once the students reach the IITs, it is the job of the teachers there to provide the environment where they grow. Blaming the coaching institutes will not solve the problem. It is the professors and the teachers to teach in a manner that brings the best out of the students, who are from different backgrounds and social classes." he said.
He also remarked that it was a shame that in a country like India, Hindi is plays second fiddle to English. Just because students cannot speak English, his talent can be undermined.
Narayana Murthy recently voiced his concerns regarding the deteriorating quality of IIT students due to coaching institutes at the 'Pan IIT' summit in New York, He also remarked on the poor English speaking skills of the students.
Anand Kumar's Super 30 has helped many poor students from Bihar to enter the prestigious IITs. He had set up Super 30 to prepare 30 students for the IIT-JEE in 2002, providing free boarding, lodging and coaching to the selected aspirants. In the last nine years, 236 students from Super 30 have made it to the IIT-JEE.
Kumar, who could not go to Cambridge University in the UK for higher studies due to extreme financial constraint after the death of his father, started the Ramanujam School of Mathematics in 1992 and founded the Super 30 a decade later.
[Source: Economic Times]
