In Bihar, India fewer than half the population can sign their own name. Yet, the "Super 30" prove every year that at the Ramanujan Academy, one's caste does not determine their future.

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Bihar is India’s poorest state. Fewer than half its 90 million inhabitants can sign their own name, yet each year a small number of impoverished Bihari children succeed in getting on to an intensive tutoring programme that prepares them to seek admission to one of the toughest universities in the world, the Indian Institutes of Technology. This is due to two remarkable men and the school they have set up, the Ramanujan Academy, which selects 30 young students each year from more than 3,000 applicants. Mostly from low-caste backgrounds, these children, the Super-30, will begin a journey away from the grinding poverty of Indian village life to the cutting edge of science, technology and business. Their journey reflects the changes in Indian society in the opening decade of the 21st century.

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About Al Jazeera - Witness

Rageh Omaar presents Witness, a half-hour daily documentary series which features short, specially commissioned or acquired films gathered from independent filmmakers.
 
Each documentary reveals the unknown lives of ordinary people, following their lives, telling their stories and portraying the challenges that confront them. Our witnesses are people in a situation or those who have observed them first hand.
 
The films cover conflict, belief, the past and the future and as well as bringing new stories to light they showcase the talents of a new breed of multi-skilled, frontline journalist. In the studio, Rageh will further explore the issues raised in the films, with expert guests on the subject matter and the filmmakers themselves.