PATNA: Twenty-six out of 30 students from Bihar's 'Super 30' academy has cracked IIT-JEE (Advanced) this year, the results of which were published on Sunday + .

The institute, founded by math wizard Anand Kumar in 2002, trains 30 meritorious students from underprivileged sections of the society for JEE exams.

"It is immensely satisfying to see students from the remotest corners, where winds of development have not reached yet and life continues to be a struggle, competing with the best and the privileged lot," Kumar said.

Onirjit Goswami, Suraj Kumar, Yash Kumar and Suryakant Das - all from extremely humble backgrounds - are among those who have cleared the JEE test from the institute this year.

Goswami, son of a small factory in Kanpur, said he always wanted to do well in life but cracking IIT was a distant dream.

"I can never forget the kind of support Anand Sir has provided to students like me," he said.

A resident of Giridih in Jharkhand, Suraj Kumar's parents have never been to school. His father, a landless farmer, is overwhelmed by the fact that his son has cracked the exam.

"Anand Sir not just mentored us free of cost, he also boosted our morale. My father does not even know what IIT stands for, but he is happy that I cracked a tough exam," Suraj Kumar said.

Yash Kumar and Suryakant Das, too, owed their success to their tutor.

In the past 16 years, around 500 students from the institute have qualified for admission to IITs.

During the training process, Kumar provides food and accommodation to all 30 students round the year. His family members, too, support his programme in every way possible.

As many of them are "first-generation learners", this success means a lot to them, the math wizard, who entered the Limca Book of World Records in 2009 for his contributions, said here today.