Bihar is likely to start the first batch of its much awaited IIT from the current academic year 2008-09.The Union HRD ministry asking the state government to provide details of the infrastructure needed for its launch in a temporary building. In a letter to chief secretary RJM Pillai, the special secretary in the Union HRD ministry, KM Acharya, has asked the state government to "identify the temporary premises for the proposed IIT with a built-up area of around 38,000 square feet".

This is much awaited and well deserved start in the effort to put Bihar once again on the global education map. World’s oldest university at Nalanda is also likely to start its functioning by next year. Former President APJ Kalam has been personally monitoring the efforts for Nalanda University and he also visited Patna to discuss the work going in this regard.The proposed plan to start IIM at Patna is also on its way and the Ministry of HRD with Bihar Govt is trying to work out the modalities for the proposed Business school at Patna in collaboration with the IIM’s.

Ask any statistician he will tell you that Bihar’s literacy rate is perhaps one of the lowest in the country but what he will not tell you is that the how Bihari students have been topping in most of the competitive exams in the country. IIT-JEE or CAT , UPSC or Railways chances are that Bihari students will definitely figure in the merit list. To secure good ranks in the best academic institution is a dream for most of the Bihari students and their parents. What’s most inspiring is the fact that these students are mostly from semi urban and lower middle class families from remote districts of Bihar. These parents dedicate themselves and spend their life’s saving to realize their kids’ dream of getting the best higher education. I have seen how thousands of parents beat the scorching sun to secure forms of coaching institutes and competitive entrance exams. They take loans from friends, relatives and banks to take care of their kid’s education.

Try reserving a train to Delhi, Pune or Bangalore just after the board exams and you’ll see the mad rush to these cities for securing admissions. Perhaps there’s no better example than that of Patwa toil((weaver community) in Gaya ,Bihar where more than hundreds of students have secured place in IIT’s and REC’s. What’s even more inspiring is that the sons of this small community have been guiding the young ones in the community to start focusing on the basic from the start so that they do not face the same odds when it comes to crack these competitive exams. They come back to their villages and hold free training classes for engineering aspirants.

Another amazing success story is of the Super 30 batch which is run by Anand Kumar, a Maths wizard, along with a senior Bihar IPS officer Abhayanand. The duo helps meritorious students from economically weaker section of the society to compete for IIT-JEE and in the last 5 years they have helped more than 100 students to secure top ranks in JEE.Every year thousand of student appear to secure seat in the Super 30 batch which means they get free coaching and other support for realizing their dream.

All this has happened without any Government support or any organized funding, the best and meritorious students of Bihar have been chasing their dreams braving all odds and with the start of these prestigious institutions in Bihar it’s positively likely to make their dreams closer than ever before.