Japanese Media Team in Bihar to Make Film on Super-30

A six-member Japanese media team has arrived in Bihar to make a documentary on the 'Super-30' of Bihar, a group of students who recently aced the rigorous Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) under the tutelage of Bihar Additional Director General Abhayanand and his partner and educationist Anand Kumar.Impressed by their astonishing success rate, the team will stay in Bihar for next several days during which it will interview all 28 successful candidates, their mentors, and the teaching methodology used by the institute that nearly guarantees success in the IIT entrance test.Yoichi Itoh, renowned economist attached with the Sumitomo Trust Bank and Institute, who is also part of the six-member film team, during a press conference in Patna on Thursday, said he was pleasantly surprised by the success of the 28 students most of who come from not-so-privileged background, and the sudden boom in the Information and Technology field in the nation."We read about the so-called Super-30 in the English media in Japan and couldn't help but wonder how these students, under such grueling conditions, managed to outperform other students from other places," Itoh said.The 45-minute film will be shown on the Japan's government channel.The Super-30 institute admits youths from all backgrounds and is run by Abhayanand and Anand Kumar, a mathematician. Those who are lucky enough to be chosen to be admitted in the institute are then tutored free of cost and food, lodging, and learning aids are also provided for free to the students. The number of successful candidates has continued to steadily grow from 18 in 2003 when the institute opened to 22 in 2004, 26 in 2005, and 28 in 2006.