by Babar Ali – The youngest Headmaster in the World
While going to school in a small town in West Bengal, the idea of doing something for poor children came to the mind of 9-year-old Babar Ali when he saw children of his own age being littering. Babur was saddened that his friends did not go to school due to poverty and were bereft of studies. So he decided to share some of her studies with him. Meaning, Babar Ali himself pioneered teaching those poor children.
Babar Ali, a fifth grade student at a government school in Beldanga town in Murshidabad district, 200 km from Kolkata, started teaching poor children in the back courtyard of his house. At that time there was a desire in his child’s mind that every child of India should get quality education. This silent social reformer, who has created education for the poor, has educated hundreds of poor children through his efforts in the last decade and a half. Babur is now 25 years old.
Babur’s Interview with IANS (Indo-Asian News Service)
Babar said in an interview to news agency IANS, “I couldn’t change the fact that my friends choose garbage and I go to school.” So I asked them to sit with me in the open sky in the courtyard of my house, so that I could teach them reading and writing. ”
The courtyard of the outdoor house has now become a school. Anand Shiksha Niketan is now running at that place. This institute came into existence in 2002 and Babur is the headmaster of this school. He is the youngest headmaster in the world.
Babar told, “I started this school with eight students, including my younger sister of five years, Amina Khatoon. We all used to sit under a guava tree in the afternoon to study, so that the children could also make rag pickers or bidis in the morning. ”
Murshidabad district, with a population of around 8 million, has a large population of daily wage laborers and children who work in fields or make beedis. Murshidabad is the largest producer of beedis in the country.
The boy brought the pieces of chalk left after use from Babur school and taught the children of his neighborhood to read and write. He taught them the basics of mathematics besides Bangla language, science, geography. He taught these children for free and also studied in school himself.
Babar Explain’s about his journey
Babar said, “My school teachers thought that I was stealing chalk to write on the wall. But when they came to know that I teach other children in my house, they started giving me a box of chalk every week. ”
Babar told, “I got a lot of help from my mother Banuara Bibi and father Mohammad Nasiruddin in this work. My mother is an Anganwadi worker and my father is a jute businessman. Both had left school, but they supported them to educate their neighborhood.”
He told, “The children I teach get very little help from their families. With the help of my family and teachers, I have been running schools and providing children with clothes, books and other reading and writing materials. ”
Apart from Babur’s teachers, Babur’s institute has been running with donations from the district officials, Indian Administrative Service officers and others in the area. Now the institute has moved to a new building near his house and has also been recognized as a private school from the West Bengal School Education Department.
Babar said, “The emphasis is on all-round education in Anand Shiksha Niketan because I want students to pursue whatever profession they want in future but they should have positive impact in society.”
In the last 16 years (from 2002 till now) Babar has taught more than 5,000 children from class one to eight, some of them started working there as teachers.
His school currently has 500 students and ten teachers. In addition the school has a non-academic staff. The school is run in co-educational education from first to eighth grade.
Babur earned an MA in English Literature from Kalyani University. And he holds an MA in History. are doing. He wants to change the female literacy rate in the district, which according to the district administration figures, is currently 55 per cent. Babar said, “Government alone cannot change the system. We all have to come forward to bring qualitative education for children in the country. ”
