Moved by the plight of poor parents who could not afford to send their children to school, Babar Ali , a student himself, has been conducting classes after his school hours since he was 11. He was called the “youngest headmaster in the world” by BBC in October 2009, at the age of 16.
The story of this young man is a remarkable tale of the desire to learn amid the direst poverty.
In the afternoon, starting at 4:00 p.m., teaches students in a school he founded in his parents´ back yard in Murshidabad. He had begun teaching at 9 years of age, mostly as a fun & then decided to continue teaching other children at a larger scale. This initiative has helped in increasing the literacy rate as the school is Tuition-free. There are over 1000 children learning at the school, starting from four or five years of age.
In order to induce better attendance, Ali also managed to get government officials to distribute free rice at the end of the month.
Besides lessons, the children are drawn by the free rice distributed at the end of each month. “Attendance was falling drastically. That is when I hit upon this idea. As my school is not recognised by the government, I couldn’t have got free rice. But government officials helped me,” says Ali.
Ali has big dreams for the future. “I dream that my school will grow and expand to other parts of the state and country where children want to but can’t go to school.” But for now, he will be content if his students get a proper classroom.
People Like Babar are making us Proud and to stop thinking and start doing our part for the Society. We are always complaining the system. He has come forward to change it for once and for all. All this at a surprisingly Young age.
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