Babar Ali: World’s Youngest Headmaster

The constitutions of most countries guarantee right to education to every child, however certain harsh realities of life prevent some children from acquiring classroom knowledge. Millions of children around the globe do not get a chance to see the classroom infrastructure even once in their lives, just because their families cannot afford to offer them quality education. The education system very often fails to deliver what it promises.

Such was the scenario in Murshidabad city of West Bengal, India, until a young teacher entered the sphere and transformed the lives of hundreds of poor children in the city. Babar Ali, a young 16-year old student became a teacher for those who could not afford to go to schools.

Babar, who himself is a class 12 student, is studying in the government run Raj Govinda School in Berhampore district of West Bengal. After the school gets over, he teaches in a make-shift school that he founded in the backyard of his parents’ house.

Named as the ‘youngest headmaster in the World’ by the BBC in October 2009, Babar started teaching a small group of students who were curious to know what he learns at school. He the expanded the group and sought help from his friends to teach at the school. Presently, the school has more than 800 students who come from nearby villages and walk up to four kilometers to acquire knowledge which they could never have obtained otherwise.

Maruti Suzuki A-star salutes our stop@nothing hero for putting a pencil in the hands of underprivileged children, who could not afford classroom teaching.