Super 30 founder invited to virtually address students of UC Berkeley amidst COVID-19

Super 30 founder and mathematician Anand Kumar has been invited for a virtual session with the University of California, Berkeley students in a bid to boost their morale in view of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic which has killed over 80,000 people in the US.

Executive vice-president of Berkeley India Speaker Series Shubham Parekh extended the invitation to Kumar for the virtual session on May 16, according to a statement issued on Monday.

The objective is to pep up students, many of whom face depression and anxiety due to the fatal impact of the pandemic and growing uncertainty about how long it would last and at what cost, it said.

UC Barkley engages speakers from India in the political, social activism and cultural spheres and eminent names from varied fields have spoken there.

"As someone who has grown up in India and witnessed the dire situation of the public education system, I have realised the importance of your contribution to the upliftment of the marginalised sections of the society through education. Your work in the education sector has been awarded, praised across the globe and we would like the students of UC Berkeley to gain your invaluable advice," said the invite to Kumar.

Kumar, globally acclaimed for his pioneering 'Super 30' initiative which has a phenomenal success rate of grooming students from the underprivileged sections for India's highly competitive IIT entrance exams, said that he was looking forward to the opportunity.

"In the difficult times, as we are in today, there is a need to hold on to our nerves and be positive. I will tell the students the success stories of my own students who never gave up despite seemingly insurmountable odds to make a mark for themselves. Challenges always come with opportunities. All that is required is to recognise them," Kumar added.

The US has recorded 830 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 80,352, according to Johns Hopkins University on Monday. More than 1,300,000 people have been infected.