Thaindian News

Patna, Feb 17 (IANS) Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will Saturday felicitate Anand Kumar, who founded Bihar’s free coaching centre Super 30 and helped many underprivileged students enter the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace laureate, will felicitate Anand Kumar at a programme in Mumbai organised by the Bihar Foundation, Mumbai chapter. The Dalai Lama will deliver a discourse on the occasion.

“He (Anand) has been invited as a chief guest at the function. The Dalai Lala will present him a memento,” the foundation spokesperson Ragini Gautam said.

She also said it was the first time that the Dalai Lama would speak at a public forum to renew the Buddhist links between Bihar and western India.

Anand was evidently happy with the honour. “Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader. His blessings will help me work more. Such honours inspire me, but also add up to the responsibility to do more for the society,” he said.

Kumar, who started the Ramanujam School of Mathematics in 1992, founded the Super 30 in 2002.

In the last eight years, the novel initiative has helped 212 students clear the IIT entrance test. During the last three years, all the 30 students of the institute made it to the IITs every year, drawing worldwide attention.

Most of the successful students have been from the most underprivileged sections of society. They are provided with free food, lodging and coaching.

This drew the attention of both national and international media. Last year, Time magazine declared Super 30 ‘the best in Asia’, while Newsweek selected it among the four most innovative schools in the world.