Super 30 head rues dearth of good teachers

New Delhi: Anand Kumar, the brain behind the revolutionary Super 30 institutes of Bihar, rued the dearth of quality teachers in India and said for education to be revolutionised good teachers need to be infused into the system.

Speaking at an IIT Delhi conference, the mathematician said it was a sad proposition that there were very few people willing to take up teaching as a profession of first choice.

“Everyone looks for the best teachers for his wards, but nobody wants his wards to become teachers. This trend has to be reversed,” he said.

Kumar is the founder of the Super 30 institutes which have had remarkable records in coaching students from economically weaker backgrounds to make it to the prestigious IITs.

His institutes, he says, are an instrument to make education inclusive.

He said the growing consciousness about education in the country was a positive indication, but it needed to be supported well to achieve the dream of ‘inclusive education’.

“What has confounded the problem further is the dearth of quality teachers, which is a matter of serious concern,” he said speaking about the problems confronting India’s education system.

He also made a strong pitch for ensuring that the reforms in the IIT-JEE examinations do not favour the elitist while calling for strengthening the primary education to help aspiring students from poor families.

“Today the government wants to bring foreign institutions to India. I fear it could further increase the void between two classes of education,” he added.