Really nice documentary series on Al-Jazeera TV ... about a guy who runs an IIT training school in Bihar...
Youtube edition of the doucmentary on the link below ... <http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2009/02/2009237166461635.html> Many of Bihar's 90 million inhabitants come from low-caste backgrounds and are unable to even sign their own name. However Anand Kumar, a brilliant mathematician, and Abhayanand, the local deputy police chief, decided to increase that likelihood for the young hopefuls of Bihar. They founded the Ramanujan Academy upon the premise that poverty, caste and religion should be no barrier to opportunity. Each year they select 30 young students from over 3,000 applicants and with intense tutoring train them to pass the entry exams for the institutes - for free. They select the Super 30 not just for their exceptional academic abilities, but also because these children have the vision and self-belief to sustain them through seven months of intensive coaching that culminate in uniquely difficult exams. If they succeed, which many of them do, they will be more or less guaranteed a place in India's emerging technological elite. Due to the fact he is offering free, tuition Anand has been receiving death threats from rival commercial colleges. He now has to have an armed escort everywhere he goes. Director Chris Mitchell filmed life in the academy over a period of 18 months and managed to get unique access to the life of these extraordinary people. The result is the series, Super 30.
