Bihar student tops IIT-JEE

Patna, May 30: IIT results brought twin joys to the state today as Bihar’s Shitikanth created history by securing the top spot in the all-India Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admissions to the all-India Institutes of Technology (IIT).

On the other hand, IPS officer Abhayanand and mathematics wizard Anand’s brainchild Super 30 gave a super performance as all its 30 students made it to the IITs.

The Ramanujan School of Mathematics picks up 30 students, belonging to financially weak families every year and prepares them for the IIT-JEE, free of cost.

“I am celebrating, as I never expected to top the list,” said a beaming Shitikanth, as he sat surrounded by his family and friends at his Exhibition Road apartment.

Shitikanth, a student of St Michael School, is the first to top the IIT-JEE from Bihar.

In 1981, another student from his school secured the second position.

Shitikanth, whose parents are both doctors, had joined Bansal Coaching at Kota in Rajasthan to prepare for his IIT-JEE. “I was sure that I would be in the top 10 after I discussed the papers with my friends. But, I had never expected to top.”

Shitikanth’s parents, Neeta Bernwal and Arun Kumar Bernwal, have been smiling ever since they heard about their son. “He (Shitikanth) has been a bright student all through. We were expecting him to do well. But he made us so proud by topping the list,” said Neeta.

The first hurdle won, Shitikanth now wishes to join the computer science department in IIT-Kanpur. Talking about his paper, the topper explained: “IIT-JEE’s questions are not difficult, but they are different. Students need to think out of the box to crack them.”

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who congratulated Shitikanth and his parents soon after the results came out, is expected to meet him tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a beaming Abhayanand and Anand were busy congratulating their Super 30 batch for their brilliant performance. As the men pointed out, it has been a four-year wait for the cent per cent success. “Fourteen of the 30 candidates belong to the OBC group. And they qualified from the general quota,” said Anand.

The professional coaching classes, run by Ramanujan School of Mathematics too, brought laurels to the school with 39 of their 70 candidates cracking the IIT-JEE.