Super 30 success

As part of its corporate social responsibility works, Oil India Limited has struck it rich with youths in the Northeast dreaming of engineering careers, courtesy its own version of Super 30 programme. Of the five OIL Super 30 residential centres, three are in Assam at Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh, and one in Aruchal Pradesh at Itagar. This year, 73 students from Assam and 18 from Aruchal have made it through the gruelling two-phase IIT joint entrance examition. Thus, 91 successful students out of 120 in the four NE centres translates to 75% success rate in 2017 for this region alone (OIL’s Jodhpur centre scored 100% success with all 30 students there clearing IIT-JEE Advanced phase). This is quite significant for a programme OIL started in 2010 in a region hitherto perceived to be lagging behind in performance at all-India level examitions. OIL authority deserves kudos for ensuring its programme runs strictly on merit, with talented students from modest economic backgrounds selected through rigorous test. Overall, the success rate of the project is a very creditable 81% since its inception, mentoring students from this region to the 19 IITs across the country, apart from other prestigious engineering institutes. Enthused with the response so far, OIL authority is planning another centre at gaon, so the programme’s reach and impact is likely to be greater in the coming days. The Super 30 model has been recognised the world over as an innovative educatiol initiative with high social quotient, providing free boarding and rigorous coaching facilities to students from poor families to crack the tough IIT tests.

The origil Super 30 centre in Pat has become a phenomenon ever since it was founded by mathematician And Kumar in 2002, celebrated by intertiol jourls of repute like Time and Newsweek. This year, Super 30 sent all its 30 students to IITs with good ranks in IIT-JEE Advanced test, including the all-India first and second rank holders. This ‘cent percent’ record is not new for Bihar’s Super 30, having first set the benchmark in 2008. And Kumar, leading the teaching staff from the front with many being his former Super 30 proteges, is quite clear about what makes the initiative ticks. He puts a premium on relentless hard work, that ‘no day should go without practice’. Focus on the entire syllabus, thorough understanding of all concepts, constant revision to keep revisiting the concepts learned — are his mantras. But he also hammers on the mental aspect, the overriding importance of positive approach and confidence building, being patient and learning from mistakes. The picture that emerges is of a complete package of study, exam and life skills being drilled into students; the fact that they are from socio-economically underprivileged sections is the icing on the cake. It is no wonder that various groups are seeking to replicate the Super 30 model elsewhere in the country. The Indian Army has its own Super 30 initiative in Kashmir, which sent 28 students into IITs/NITs this year. It is to the credit of OIL authority in adopting and running this model for seven years in the Northeast. And the spirit seems to have rubbed off on quite a few other higher secondary schools and junior colleges in Assam, seeking to replicate the all-round Super 30 pattern for their students taking board exams and all-India level entrance tests. This in turn offers serious grounds for introspection to primarily government-run schools and colleges. Piecemeal and desultory at best, lackadaisical at worst — their approach to teaching is leaving students nowhere in the fiercely competitive picture.